On Saturday, Bayern Munich travelled to the southwestern part of Germany for a clash with TSG Hoffenheim. Despite getting off to a slow start Bayern went on to register a 4-1 victory at the PreZero Arena.
The match itself wasn’t quite as easy as the final scoreline may suggest. In the first half, the reigning Bundesliga Champions struggled to make inroads from open play. However, they still managed to take a 1-0 lead into the second half courtesy of a superb one-time finish from Harry Kane, who latched on smartly to a corner kick played along the ground by Lennart Karl.
In the second half, Kane converted two penalty kicks to register another hat trick before Vladimir Coufal got one back for the hosts. Serge Gnabry rounded off the scoring in added time. Courtesy of the win, Die Roten remained at the top of the Bundesliga standings and maintained their 100% record in all competitions so far this season.
Squad rotation
Following Wednesday’s victory over Chelsea in the Champions League, Saturday’s game against Hoffenheim was Bayern’s third in eight days. Therefore, not surprisingly, Vincent Kompany opted for some squad rotation by making five changes to the XI that started against Chelsea.
In defense, Kim Min-jae replaced Dayot Upamecano at center-back, whilst at right-back Sacha Boey got the start with Konrad Laimer switching over to the left in place of the injured Josip Stanisic.
Joshua Kimmich made way for Leon Goretzka in midfield by taking a place alongside Upamecano on the bench. In attack, Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise made way for Nicolas Jackson and Lennart Karl who were handed their maiden Bundesliga starts by Vincent Kompany.