It was already the eighth minute of stoppage time when Manuel Neuer, FC Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper, was shown a yellow card by referee Christian Dingert halfway across the field. Neuer approached the goal kick very slowly, he was playing for time. A sign that it was not easy for Munich to maintain their 3-2 lead at FC Augsburg.
Ultimately it was successful and the champions remain in the Bundesliga title race. “It’s always close against Augsburg, but we accepted the fight,” said Neuer about a game with many VAR interruptions. “It was a lot of hard work and dirty work,” said coach Thomas Tuchel, praising the attitude of his weakened team.
The effectiveness was also good for Bayern, who scored goals through Aleksandar Pavlovic (23rd), Alphonso Davies (45th + 5) and Harry Kane (58th). But the Munich team was not convincing in terms of play. “Bayern wasn’t good,” said Augsburg’s defense chief Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, “we noticed that they were in a difficult phase.” And it doesn’t get any easier because Kingsley Coman was also seriously injured at FCB.
Hope in the beginning
The initial phase of the game was characterized by hopeful moments from the outsider, by the elusiveness of a lead, which ultimately didn’t materialize. A penalty decision and a goal that would have made it 1-0 did not stand before the video court in the Cologne basement. A murmur of disbelief went through the sold-out Augsburg Arena when referee Christian Dingert gestured to the penalty spot in the 5th minute after a scene between FCA captain Demirovic and Bayern central defender de Ligt.
The television images deciphered that de Ligt had touched the ball with his elbow – albeit just outside the penalty area. The decision was reversed and converted into a yellow card for de Ligt and a free kick for Augsburg. In this phase, the FCA came close to the requirement of its coach Jess Thorup, “that we also want to dominate the game”.
In the 12th minute, goal celebrations were announced when Elvis Rexhbecaj, assisted by Demirovic, took an artificial shot from a tight angle and beat the great Manuel Neuer, but here too it went to the stage of the footage, which revealed an Augsburg offside position. And so for the Swabians all their efforts and grip in the duels felt fruitless.
Due to their absences due to injuries and layoffs for the national tournaments in Africa and Asia, the Munich team were missing players with a market value of 250 million euros from the outset. In the 26th minute, the default capital increased to 315 million thanks to Kingsley Coman, who was valued at 65 million.
The Frenchman could no longer use his left foot, coach Thomas Tuchel had to change for the first time, he brought on Mathys Tel. Bayern’s joy about their opening goal (23rd) was subdued because it was already clear that it was on the Coman had hurt himself. “We will probably miss him for a while. It was very painful for him, it doesn’t have to be the cruciate ligament, it could also be the inner ligament,” Thomas Tuchel tried to make his first speculative diagnosis.
The 0-1 after a corner by Pavlovic, who had recently been upgraded to a professional, steered the action into the usual direction for FC Bayern. In five minutes of stoppage time in the first half, Alphonso Davies fired a 20-meter shot flat into the corner of the Augsburg goal to make it 0-2.
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FC Augsburg didn’t give up, went into the second half with the courage of the first and was rewarded with the goal to make it 1:2 (52nd). A standard header goal scored by Demirovic from a cross from Kevin Mbabu from the right half field. Nobody from Bayern stopped this action. The champions looked vulnerable on defense. To relieve the pressure, he had Jamal Musiala, who repeatedly escaped from Augsburg’s duels and also initiated the third goal, which was reassuring for Bayern.
In the final analysis, it was a foul by Harry Kane, who was clearly offside, but after a long radio exchange with Cologne, referee Dingert found himself in front of the monitor again, where he noticed that Augsburg’s Kristian Jakic was the last player before Kane to touch the ball had. After waiting, Harry Kane started to celebrate in the 61st minute for the 3-1 score scored in the 58th minute. Even the Bayern fan curve said: “Abolish VAR.”
He was called in again – and a foul was subsequently recognized when Manuel Neuer cleared the ball. The Bayern goalkeeper had knocked out Augsburg’s Felix Uduokhai – “with his forearm,” as Neuer admitted. He made up for his mistake by punching Sven Michel’s penalty kick from the corner (88′). In retrospect, it was a valuable act because Augsburg were awarded another penalty after a clear foul by substitute Thomas Müller on Demirovic, who stepped up himself and reduced the score to 2:3 (90th+4).