Bayern Munich: Takeaways from 2-1 win at Freiburg | OneFootball

On Saturday afternoon, after a disappointing midweek 3-0 loss to Feyenoord in the European Champions League, Bayern Munich resumed action in the Bundesliga against Freiburg at the Europa-Park Stadion.

Needless to say, Die Roten would have been looking to atone for the poor showing in Rotterdam on Wednesday, but based on how the match played out it was clear that mid-table Freiburg didn’t receive the memo. The 2-1 win was anything but easy as the home team fought till the very end. Nonetheless, courtesy of the win Bayern extended their lead at the top of the table to a comfortable six points after 19 matchdays. Let us now look at some key takeaways from Bayern’s slender 2-1 win against Freiburg.

Much - weakened defense held up well

With Dayot Upamecano and Alphonso Davies out due to injury and Konrad Laimer suspended, there was an unfamiliar look to the back four. Apart from Joshua Kimmich starting at right-back, based on the recent individual performances of Kim Min-jae and Raphael Guerreiro, the back four didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

However, apart from an ordinary showing from Guerreiro at left-back, Joshua Kimmich and later on Josip Stanisic were both excellent at right-back under the circumstances. In the center of defense, though not flawless, the combination of Kim Min-jae and Eric Dier once again proved to be reliable. Despite conceding from a corner Bayern’s defense limited Freiburg to just two shots on target.

Both Kim and Dier were excellent with their ball distribution. The South-Korean completed 96% of his passes (119/124) whilst Dier wasn’t too far behind on 95% (79/83). Quite significantly, both were also major contributors in attack. For Bayern’s first goal it was Dier who drifted over to the right-flank to set up Harry Kane. Kim did one better in scoring the winner with a glancing header following a Kimmich corner. Kim was the man-of-the match as he also won all three of his ground duels and completed eight recoveries.