Bayern Munich march on in their quest to win the Meisterschale with a victory over 15th-placed St. Pauli on matchday 27 of the Bundesliga.
As has been the case multiple times this season, Bayern made the game difficult for themselves as they conceded two highly preventable goals and missed several clear-cut chances to score themselves. Ultimately, they did enough to secure the three points, which is what matters most at this stage of the campaign.
The game started out with Bayern firmly in the driving seat. After knocking on the door for a while they finally opened the scoring with a simple finish from Harry Kane after good work from Jamal Musiala in snatching the ball high up the field from Bochum's van der Heyden. Elia Saad equalized for Bochum not too long after this, as a low cross was failed to be cleared by both Kim Min-jae and Eric Dier before it reached the Tunisian striker.
Bayern created several decent chances, the best one coming from a Guerriero point-blank range near-post shot, which was saved by the goalkeeper. In the second half, the Bavarians restored their lead courtesy of Leroy Sane, who found himself in acres of space to collect Michael Olise's pass and dispatched the ball past Nikola Vasilj. In the 71st minute, the German secured his brace after finishing a pinpoint ball across the box from Kane. Kompany exhausted all five substitutions by the 85th minute, which forced Bayern to play with 10 men in the last few minutes after Ito had to be taken off because of a foot injury. Pauli made the most of this advantage as Lars Ritzka pulled one back for the visitors deep in injury time.
Bayern restored their six point lead at the top of the table after this victory. Let's take a look at the players ratings from the home team.
Goalkeeper
Jonas Urbig - 6.5/10
Made a great save late in the second half but wasn't tested enough by St. Pauli. Couldn't have done much for the two conceded goals.
Defence
Raphael Guerriero - 6/10
Struggled to make any impact in the game. Had a great chance to score after a well-worked corner routine but slashed it straight at the keeper. Looked like a liability in defence all evening.
Kim Min-jae - 6/10
Looked flustered at the back on many occasions. Partly at fault for Pauli's first goal.
Eric Dier - 5.5/10
Dangerously negligent in the box as Eric Dier didn't clear a ball that passed right by him to the feet of Elias Saad, who converted the chance for Pauli.
Konrad Laimer - 5/10
Defensively shocking performance form the Austrian. Linkup with Olise going forward wasn't nearly as good as usual.