FC Bayern Munich dropped to third place in the Bundesliga table as they were forced to settle for a draw against RB Leipzig in matchday four.
Niko Kovac opted to give Jerome Boateng his first start of the Bundesliga campaign, replacing an injured David Alaba in the lineup. Serge Gnabry made his way back into the team alongside Thomas Muller, who took the number ten position with Philippe Coutinho on the bench. The Bavarians were rostered in a 4-3-3 formation. On the opposite side, the hosts shaped up in an attacking 3-5-2.
Kovac’s side reflected the great character in an exciting clash against the Red Bulls. Bayern started the game with cruise control as the reigning champions remained in command for the majority of the first 45 minutes.
Whilst Bayern kept knocking on Leipzig’s door with a dominant display, they were reverted with an equivalent momentum when Julian Naglesmann decided to put his team in a constant pressing mode in the second half.
There were multiple occasions when Bayern came close to scoring a winner but failed to give the final touch to some promising moves. With new faces having joined this summer and Kovac still looking for his concrete starting XI, Die Roten were solid as a unit in each phase of the game.
Bayern’s head coach seemed content after the match with a lot of positives taken from his team’s display. Kovac considered this to be Bayern’s best staging so far.
"“We played sensationally in the first half, it was our best performance so far. We didn’t allow them anything but should have made more of our dominance. We made life difficult for ourselves after that. “We shouldn’t have conceded the penalty after losing the ball. Leipzig changed their formation at half-time, we should have been more compact in midfield. It was an open contest then.” “At the end of the day the result is annoying. We had more chances, we played well but unfortunately squandered two points. We’re looking at the bright side of the game: we turned in a really good display.”"
Considering the significance of this game and the vital moments observed from the match, we rate the performance for every Bayern player.