That was a blink-and-you-missed-it game from Bayern Munich in a 6-1 Bundesliga road win over Holstein Kiel that took the Bavarians to top of the table.
That is, if you tuned in just a few minutes late it was already over. In just the first minute, Bayern hit Kiel over the top, Harry Kane flicking on to Jamal Musiala. Then Serge Gnabry and Musiala pounced on poor attempts to play out the back, resulting in two more goals (by Harry Kane and an own goal from unlucky Kiel defender Nicolai Remberg) before the quarter-hour mark.
A feel-good romp in every way for the Bavarians.
Now for some quick hitters:
- How about that near-goal from former Bayern youngster Fiete Arp? For a short phase in the second half, the game long ago decided, the home side had some attacking initiative. With Joshua Kimmich trailing the play, Arp collected a square ball inside the box and snatched at it, only to be denied a goal against his former team by the crossbar.
- Joshua Kimmich’s role was the subject of some discussion in the staff slack this game. From this author’s perspective, Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany is trying to make the best use of Kimmich’s on-the-ball abilities all over the pitch — both in right-back positions, where he excelled last Rückrunde and where Bayern is perhaps weakest in terms of personnel right now — and in midfield.
- Michael Olise put in a smooth, high effort performance in his substitute appearance and capped it off with a well-deserved goal. Being in the right place, right time is a skill that shouldn’t be taken for granted…and he silkily warded off an attempted football tackle in the closing minutes on his way to dribbling towards another super attacking chance.
- How good it was to see Thomas Müller on the pitch. Radio Müller — the recent birthday boy — was at it in all of his 45 minutes of action, giving the refs an earful right away and gesturing at teammates to make runs even as the full-time whistle blew. Never change, Thomas.
Time to vote!
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s massive 6-1 blowout of Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga? Great, then we have just what you need with our Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show, which is available on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
