Bayern Munich had one job…take care of Mainz 05 and move on to the next round of the DFB-Pokal.
Mission accomplished.
Bayern Munich was dominant from the get-go and thrashed Mainz 05 4-0 on the road.
A relentless first half paved the way for the success, so let’s get right to it. Here are some quick hitters on the match:
- As always, let’s start with the lineup:
- One of the big changes was Eric Dier for Dayot Upamecano. Upamecano was held out due to a bruised thigh. Otherwise, Leroy Sané got the nod over Michael Olise, Konrad Laimer remained in the lineup over Raphael Guerreiro, and Serge Gnabry stepped back in for Kingsley Coman.
- For Mainz 05, Bayern Munich loanees Armindo Sieb and Gabriel Vidović were in the starting XI.
- For the second consecutive game, Bayern Munich got started early (and even earlier than Saturday). Some nice attacking play from Gnabry to Alphonso Davies to Harry Kane to Jamal Musiala resulted in a nice goal for the youngster in the 2nd minute. Bayern Munich’s attacking movements were absolutely on-point right off the bat.
- Minutes later, Kane almost put Bayern Munich up 2-0, but Mainz 05 Robin Zentner came out to make a brave play and Kane’s cleat clipped the goalkeeper. Luckily, Zentner only needed a small bandage to deal with what was ailing him. He would go on to blame Kane after the game for the incident.
- In the 27th minute, Gnabry has two golden opportunities from point-blank range, but could not find a way to put the ball into the net. Surely, the Germany international would love to have that sequence back.
- In the 30th minute, Sané also probably should have scored…if Musiala had not taken care of business earlier, Bayern Munich fans might have started to get a little anxious.
- For his part, Zentner was standing tall despite being under pretty consistent duress.
- Mainz 05 would start to build some momentum, though, and generate a couple decent chances.
- In the 37th minute, however, Sané sent in a curling ball from the right-side, which found Kane’s head. The Englishman pounded a header off of a prone Zentner, who did very well to fend it off. Unfortunately for the Mainz 05 goalkeeper, Musiala was lying in wait to head it home for his second goal of the match.
- Just like that, Bayern Munich fans could exhale.
- In the third minute of added time for the first half, Bayern Munich had a frantic counter-attack that culminated with Davies running into a defender, which saw both players go down before the ball squirted free to Sané, who easily made it 3-0.
- Seconds later, Sané sent a ball to a driving Laimer, who pounded in cross that was first met by a Mainz defender, who deflected it into Zentner. The ball bounced over to Musiala, who was there to put away for his third goal of the half and a 4-0 lead.
- Kompany went to his bench and Bayern Munich lost that sense of urgency it once had. With a massive lead and Mainz 05 unable to really make any headway, Bayern Munich was content to let the match play out.
- In a stroke of bad luck, Dier pulled up lame with what looked like a hamstring injury. Arijon Ibrahimović entered the match, which was good to see, but now Upamecano and Dier are both banged up at a very thin position on the roster.
- Overall, Bayern Munich was just dominant and was never seriously threatened. What else can you say?
If you missed our Initial Analysis, Match Awards, Observations, or Postgame Podcast, give them a look or a listen:
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has always kept an eye on Germany when it comes to talent. Now, the former Bayern Munich coach could be plotting his biggest heist yet — bringing in both Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz during the 2025 summer transfer window:
Manchester City are planning for the future despite their ongoing legal battle with the Premier League and have identified Florian Wirtz as a top transfer target, per TEAMtalk sources. The Cityzens are currently in limbo as they await the verdict for their alleged 115 breaches of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
If found guilty, Man City‘s potential punishments range from a fine, a transfer ban, to a points deduction or even expulsion from the top flight. The club have consistently pleaded their innocence and continue to plan their transfer business as usual, with a blockbuster move for Wirtz on the cards.
Sources have revealed to TEAMtalk that Man City’s recruitment chiefs view Wirtz as someone who could fit perfectly into Pep Guardiola’s system. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder has been key to Bayer Leverkusen’s recent success and is widely considered to be one of the best young talents in football.
Sources have revealed to TEAMtalk that a bid of at least £90m will be required for Leverkusen to even consider selling Wirtz next summer. He is under contract until 2027, so the German side hold all the power in negotiations. There is no doubt that Man City are one of the clubs closely monitoring Wirtz’s situation. The Premier League champions have made contact with the player’s agents in an attempt to gauge his interest in a potential move to the Etihad.
Wirtz is not alone on Man City’s transfer shortlist, however. TEAMtalk can confirm that Bayern Munich superstar Jamal Musiala is also admired by the club. We previously revealed that Guardiola is a huge fan of Musiala and Man City have sent scouts regularly to watch the attacking midfielder in action.Chelsea are also keeping close tabs on Musiala. They have a long-term relationship with the 21-year-old and he has strong friendships with some players at Stamford Bridge. Musiala would be significantly more expensive than Wirtz though and due to the Premier League’s stringent PSR restrictions it is unclear whether any side will be able to foot the bill.
Financially, Manchester City could make the move, but those pesky FFP regulations could be a hindrance. Regardless, Musiala is going to continue to be a prime transfer target for any deep-pocketed English club, while Wirtz will assuredly draw interest from Spain’s powerhouse (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid) as well.
Right now, some fans are salivating at the thought of Musiala, Wirtz, and Paul Wanner all potentially being a part of Bayern Munich next season. However, there is a (slim) possibility that the Bavarians end up with none of the three.
At this stage, it still feels like Wirtz and Musiala will end up in Bavaria, but Wanner’s situation is much more complicated (mostly due to the potential presence of those two players).
Maybe Manchester City can help balance their financial situation by selling Rodri? It is doubtful that the club will want to do that, but Real Madrid seems to really want the Spaniard:
There was outrage from Real Madrid that Rodri won the Ballon d’Or ahead of Vinícius Júnior on Monday, but AS now says that Los Blancos could look to sign the Manchester City midfielder.
Madrid reportedly feel that their midfield is faltering despite being heavily invested in, while Rodri has been a key figure for both City and the Spain national team.
Born just 39 kilometres from the Bernabeu, Rodri has a deal at City until 2027 and the Spanish outlet reports that the 28-year-old has been offered a contract renewal that would put him alongside Phil Foden and Erling Haaland as one of the club’s biggest earners.
However, Rodri is waiting for the result of the trial Man City are facing for Financial Fair Play irregularities and the consequences that might have on the Citizens’ project — especially as director of football Txiki Begiristain is leaving and manager Pep Guardiola’s future hasn’t been decided.
Madrid are aware of the situation and while they know it would be a major operation to land the Ballon d’Or winner, they feel that signing him would make sense; he is a good friend of Dani Carvajal and Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti is said to be a big fan.
As we enter the cold, grey, and rainy autumn days – the Bundesliga is beginning to take shape.
This episode of the Bundesliga Rundown with Marcus Iredahl will dive into Nuri Sahin’s inconsistent Borussia Dortmund and Xabi Alonso’s defensively fragile Bayer Leverkusen.
It will also feature a special Bundesliga Stadium Awards segment, where Marcus will share his picks for:
- Best home atmosphere
- Best away supporters
- Tastiest stadium food
- Catchiest intro song
- Best game ever
Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olise, and Kim Min-jae were all named to WhoScored.com’s Bundesliga Team of the Month:
Timo Werner’s stay at Tottenham Hotspur could be ending after this season:
Tottenham Hotspur star Timo Werner is in the frame to return to the starting line-up for the Carabao Cup fourth round tie against Manchester City despite boss Ange Postecoglou leaning towards offloading him at the end of the season instead of taking advantage of keeping him at Hotspur Way on a permanent basis, GIVEMESPORT sources have revealed.
Although Werner is on track to be deployed on the left flank, it is a shock twist as GMS sources recently revealed that he is in line to return to parent club Leipzig instead of his move being made permanent at the end of the season as Tottenham are actively scouting alternative options after Postecoglou has gone in search of adding further firepower.
Bayern Munich visited VfL Bochum and took care of business, though it was not in an overly convincing way. Dominant? Yes. Convincing? Well…it was poor competition, so it is tough to say. At least Bayern Munich did what it needed to do.
At this stage, the Bavarians should be overwhelming an overmatched side like VfL Bochum, but that did not happen. Let’s dive into it with this combination of Bavarian Podcast Works Postgame Show / Flagship Show:
- A look at the starting XI.
- A rundown of the scoring and substitutions.
- Bayern Munich dominated, but had a couple of lapses. Against better teams that could be trouble (again).
- Where does Bayern Munich go from here?
- Some thoughts on why Max Eberl is at risk of losing the fanbase and why it might be hard for him to regain the faith of those who have already checked out on him.
