Matchday nine of the Bundesliga brought an ever-so thrilling match as FC Bayern Munich took on Hoffenheim. In the last two times, these sides met, a total of 10 goals had been scored. This game brought nothing short of that seeing Bayern win at home 4-0.
The excitement started off hot and fast with heavy pressure coming from Bayern. In just two minutes, a Thomas Muller through ball split the Hoffenheim defenders right down the middle to find a wide-open Robert Lewandowski in front of the goal. Taking on the keeper one-on-one, Lewandowski tried to chip it up and over but narrowly missed to the left.
The game saw its first goal in the eighth minute revoked after VAR ruled there to be a foul during the build-up play. Hoffenheim’s Christoph Grillitsch held the ball too long in his own box, quickly getting swarmed by youngster Jamal Musiala, touching the ball forward to Serge Gnabry to fire it in. However, the foul was conceded by Musiala as he went through Grillitsch to get to the ball.
Only eight minutes later, Gnabry got his revenge by scoring an extraordinary goal in the 16th minute. Musiala’s pass picked out Gnabry from a sea of defenders, but at a very unlikely angle. Not only was he tight to the baseline, but Gnabry was also falling to the ground as he fired off his shot, sending it perfectly around keeper Oliver Baumann to find the top left corner.
In the 30th minute, Bayern had possibly its best passage of end-to-end play we’ve seen this season. After a Hoffenheim fast break ended in a Benjamin Pavard tackle, the ball was cleared forward to Muller who had his physicality put to test. Charging down the field while also holding off defender Chris Richards, Muller still managed to tap the ball forward for Lewandowski to send the ball with pace and power in the top right corner of the goal. This was Lewandowski’s 10th goal of the season, but only his first from outside of the penalty box.
The second half started off just as hot for Bayern. Even with being up by two goals, they maintained passing with a purpose. In just 27 seconds, Gnabry drew a great save from Baumann to keep it at 2-0.
Around the 70th minute, Hoffenheim found a second wind, seeing them have crisper passing and more pressure in the final third. They recorded three shots in a matter of minutes but failed to send on any target.
After much promise coming from Hoffenheim both defensively and in attack, Bayern was able to put the nail in the coffin with an 82nd-minute goal coming from substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. A failed clearance bounced off the back of Dayot Upamecano that fell right to the feet of Choupo-Moting for him to hammer it home.
To round off the game, another substitute in Kingsley Coman found the back of the net in the 87th minute after a brilliant run from a brilliant pass. Upamecano recorded his second assist of the game by playing a long ball forward from Bayern’s own half, in which Coman did the rest.
Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win over Hoffenheim sees them still sitting on top of the Bundesliga, while also scoring a miraculous 33 goals through the first nine games, breaking the previous record of 31 goals scored.
Bayern will look to continue their strong run of performances in their midweek game against Borussia Monchengladbach in the DFB Pokal on Oct. 27th.