On Friday night, we saw Bayern Munich pull off a hard fought win, as they beat local rivals Augsburg 3-0 at the Allianz Arena – thanks to a hat-trick from Harry Kane. The England captain scored his 50th Bundesliga goal in the process, doing so in just 43 games – seven games faster than Erling Haaland did.
It was not the best game, particularly not for the neutral – but it was certainly professional, solid, and important. So – what were the main takeaways?
1) The performance of Leon Goretzka
When Bayern Munich beat Holsten Kiel in mid-September, Leon Goretzka was not named in the matchday squad - despite not being injured. The suggestion of him being on a list like this again at Bayern Munich felt like a pipe dream at that point. Yet, here we are.
The injuries to João Palhinha and Aleksandar Pavlović have left Bayern really light in midfield, and Goretzka has had his chance in the starting XI as a result. The 29-year old started against St. Pauli to give Palhinha some rest, and started last night as a result of the latter’s injury.
There were plenty of eyebrows raised when Vincent Kompany named him in the starting XI for this one, with fans calling for either Raphaël Guerreiro in midfield and Konrad Laimer at right-back, or vice versa.
Still, Kompany went with Goretzka, and it certainly paid off. Bayern were able to win the ball back incredibly quickly when they lost the ball, and he was a huge part of why. The midfielder won six of his ten duels, made two tackles, and four recoveries.
He generally looked better on the ball, too – which has been a consistent criticism of late. Goretzka had 84 touches, created three chances, three shots, and put in a lovely ball for Kane’s hat-trick goal, giving him an assist to top the night off for him and Bayern. He also hit the bar with a really nice looping header in one of those three shots.
It is clear the Bayern number eight does not have a long-term future at the club. He probably does not even have a medium-term future in Bavaria. But with the aforementioned absences of Palhinha and Pavlović, he is going to be needed over this crucial week to the season that is upcoming.