Bayern Munich’s winning run of eight games against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday as Anthony Modeste scored the equalizer in the final minute of the game. Dortmund deserved a point for their persistence in the final third after conceding two venomous strikes from Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane for Bayern Munich in each half.
Julian Nagelsmann made some surprising changes to the starting XI against Dortmund. Joshua Kimmich was not completely fit to start the game, so he started on the bench. Leon Goretzka and Marcel Sabitzer formed the midfield pair, while Serge Gnabry slotted in the attack to replace Thomas Muller.
Both teams found it difficult to control the game in the first 30 minutes of the game. It was end-to-end stuff with very little efficiency from both teams in the final third. Bayern marginally dominated the possession, but they could hardly make it count due to some clever defending from Dortmund.
The first shot on target in the game came in the 31st minute when Raphael Guerreiro’s terrific strike was parried away by Manuel Neuer. Dortmund was slowly gaining momentum after a quiet start to the game, but Die Roten managed to deliver the first blow of the game in the 33rd minute.
Leon Goretzka unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box to open the scoring for Bayern. Jamal Musiala played a perfectly weighted square pass from the left flank to find Goretzka at the edge of the park. It was a vital goal for Bayern to break Dortmund’s momentum. The rest of the first half saw both teams battling in all areas of the pitch without producing shots on target.
The second half started with two great chances for both teams. Marius Wolf made an instant impact after coming on at half-time as he forced a great save from Neuer. Sadio Mane came close at the other end couple of minutes later. His close-range header was inches wide from the goal.
Bayern doubled their lead in the 53rd minute through a fierce strike from Leroy Sane. Musiala played a big role in the goal again as he played a smart pass to Sane at the edge of the box. Sane still had a lot to do in this position. Instead of curling the shot, the German forward went for power and blasted the shot past Alexander Meyer to put Die Roten in the commanding seat.
After getting a two-goal lead, Bayern started looking more dangerous in the final third. They created two good chances but couldn’t find the right finishing touch to put the game beyond Dortmund. The missed chances came back to haunt Die Roten as Dortmund pulled one back through Youssoufa Moukoko in the 74th minute. Anthony Modeste made an instant impact after coming off from the bench as he provided the pass to set up Moukoko in the final third.
Die Roten tried to manage the rest of the game by keeping possession, but they couldn’t create significant chances to restore the two-goal lead. Modeste had a brilliant chance to equalize for Dortmund, but he couldn’t sort his feet in front of the game. Kingsley Coman made things difficult for his team in the dying minutes as he was sent off for a poor foul on Karim Adeyemi in the dying minutes of normal time.
Bayern had managed the game well after going down to ten men. Just when it looked like Die Roten would make it nine wins in a row against BVB, Modeste stepped up to score the equaliser in the final minute of the game. Nico Schlotterbeck kept the ball in play and delivered a quality cross from the right flank. Modeste managed to beat Noussair Mazraoui on the back post and head the ball past Neuer.
Considering the overall performances of both teams on Saturday, a draw looked like a fair result. It does feel like a loss for Bayern since they were so close to taking home all three points. Courtesy of this result, Die Roten remained third in the points table.
