Our 3️⃣ points as Bayern overcome BVB amid chaos and controversy | OneFootball

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Padraig Whelan·4 December 2021

Our 3️⃣ points as Bayern overcome BVB amid chaos and controversy

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Bayern overcome BVB amid chaos and controversy

Bayern Munich defeated Borussia Dortmund in a five-goal thriller filled with quality and controversy at the Westfalenstadion.

This is what we made of it.


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Chaos and quality

Article image:Our 3️⃣ points as Bayern overcome BVB amid chaos and controversy

It’s hard to discuss a game that was a magnificent advert for the Bundesliga without touching on the controversy – but we’ll get to that.

Erling Haaland returned and scored a fantastic goal with a curling finish to mark his comeback in the starting line-up.

Jude Bellingham shone, as did Julian Brandt and it was disappointing to see him exit to a worrying head injury after a nasty collision with Dayot Upamecano that will likely keep him out for a period of time just as he had began playing his way back into form.

For Bayern, Robert Lewandowski was ruthless in front of goal and their defence, after a rocky start, dealt very well with the dangerous attacking threat posed to them.

The 100 minutes (10 were added for Brandt’s injury) were as captivating as you will see anywhere, with fantastic goals, big decisions, goal-line clearances and even a missed open goal from 45 yards after Gregor Kobel had went forward for a late corner.

Breathless stuff.


Big call #1

Referee Felix Zwayer was not a popular figure among the home fans throughout.

And the game, and perhaps even the title race, hinged on two penalty calls at either end in the second half, which both went against BVB in contentious circumstances.

The first came when Marco Reus went down in the box under a challenge from behind from Lucas Hernández.

While there was suspicion of an offside in the build-up which would have nullified the decision, ultimately, the man in charge believed Hernández’s clumsy tackle wasn’t worthy of a penalty.

“It’s harsh, why doesn’t [the referee] look at that foul on me?” Reus asked afterwards when quizzed by Sky. “He has to look at it!”

A massive call. And not the last …


Big call #2

Dortmund were already livid about the non-award of a penalty when they were sent into a fury that saw Marco Rose sent off when Bayern were given one of their own.

That came when Hummels, who had a turbulent evening, made contact with the ball with his arm following a corner from the right.

The defender was off balance when the ball struck his arm and it appeared he had a good reason for being in such a precarious position as Thomas Müller appeared to strike him in the face and caused Hummels to stumble, ultimately leading to the handball.

Bellingham’s post game comments on the officiating may land him in hot water but are evidence of how angry the BVB camp were about the defeat.

There’s likely to be plenty more fallout from these 100 minutes of madness.