Match report | Historic beginning and a clear statement: Bayern beats Leipzig | Bayern Munich – RB Leipzig 5:1 | 15th matchday | Bundesliga 2024/25

The surprising 2-1 defeat in Mainz did not faze Vincent Kompany. “The motivation only increases when you lose once,” the coach was sure before the end of the year against Leipzig. The fact that Kane and Davies returned after their muscle fiber tears also provided confidence. Both moved into the first eleven, as did Upamecano and Goretzka. Dier, Guerreiro, Pavlovic and Müller initially sat on the bench.

For the guests from Leipzig, coach Marco Rose made two changes compared to the 2-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. Gulasci returned between the posts in place of Vandevoordt, while Vermeeren replaced Kampl in midfield after serving his yellow card suspension. In the 3-3-2-2 system, the guests were waiting for a counterattack.

Fastest 1:1 in BL history

In the first action of the game, however, Orban allowed himself a serious bad pass against Bayern who were pressing hard. Kimmich won the ball, which landed at Musiala via Kane and Olise. The national player of the year scored from three meters to make it 1-0 after 29 seconds.

But just over a minute later, the Leipzig team showed pretty much exactly what Rose would have imagined. Henrichs fed Openda, who left the aggressive Kim standing just behind the center line and sprinted down the line. Sesko used his flat cross to immediately equalize. Never before had the score been 1-1 within the first two minutes of a Bundesliga game.

Bavaria dominates

As turbulent as the game began, it was just as clear afterwards. While Bayern took command, Leipzig dropped deeper and deeper, defended against the ball in a 5-3-2 formation and were initially lucky when Musiala was denied by Gulasci from close range (10th). Laimer did better, taking a cross from Olise out of the air and placing it precisely under the crossbar (25').

Even after falling behind again, RB made no move to become more offensive. On the contrary: Munich let the ball run in the opponent's half, had 75 percent possession in the first 45 minutes and looked for the gap. This arose after 36 minutes for Kimmich, who got far too much space 20 meters in front of the goal and shot. His not entirely unstoppable shot hit the right corner. Since Kane missed Bayern's fourth goal before the break (39th), the score went into the locker room 3-1.

System change at RB

Rose didn't react in terms of personnel during the break, but switched to a back four. From then on, Seiwald defended on the right, Henrichs on the left, Orban and Geertruida in the center. His team got into the game a little better for a short time, although the first chances belonged to Bayern. Sané slid into a cross from Laimer, but missed clearly (53'). A little later, Olise failed with a shot (58').

Openda, who Goretzka blocked, and Nusa, whose shot flew past the goal from a tight angle, provided Leipzig's first significant opportunity since the second minute (64'). The guests didn't offer much more offensively – instead, Bayern stepped up their game again.

Kane failed because of Gulasci's strong reaction (66') and then served Sané with pinpoint accuracy, who narrowly missed (67'). Five minutes later it was Sané who found Olise standing completely free in the six-yard box, but the Frenchman didn't catch the ball (72').

Sané rewards himself, Davies puts the finishing touches

But Sané ended up getting the reward for a committed performance. Davies' start paved the way for the left winger to score, where he held his nerve this time in front of Gulasci and scored to make it 4-1 (75'). Just three minutes later, Davies made it really clear with a header from Kimmich's cross (78'). Even though there were still chances for the sixth goal, the dominant Munich team ultimately scored 5-1, which they deserved.

Doubly bitter for RB: In stoppage time, Henrichs went down without any interference from the opponent, lay there in pain for minutes and was ultimately carried off the pitch with his hands in front of his face.

After the winter break, FC Bayern have to go to Borussia from Mönchengladbach on Saturday, January 11th (6:30 p.m.), Leipzig have a home game against Werder Bremen the next day (3:30 p.m.).