Bayern Munich comfortably swept aside VfB Stuttgart with a strong second-half performance to end their winless streak.
Bayern had the better chances in the first half but never troubled Alexander Nübel with their efforts. However, you cannot say that Bayern were the better side elsewhere but neither was Stuttgart. Although Stuttgart showed promise when going forward, they were also unable to produce anything meaningful at goal. Both teams were very sloppy on the ball struggling to make passes or connect them and this meant that the first half was very disjointed and really stop-and-start.
However, in the second half, Bayern came out a much better side and were completely dominant. They opened the scoring from a long-range effort from Harry Kane before the Englishman doubled his tally soon after. The quick-fire double then made Stuttgart fall apart and the Bayern received more and more opportunities in front of goal. Kane would then get his hat-trick in the 80th minute latching onto a loose ball after it had rebounded off of Jeff Chabot. Substitute Kingsley Coman would score a fourth late on.
Stuttgart were not at their usual levels this evening, they were sloppy in the first half and immediately after going 2-0 down they then collapsed and did not look like they had any sort of hold on the game. While for Bayern, despite question marks around head coach Vincent Kompany’s play style, it showed that his playstyle is still very dominant.
Both teams play in the Champions League in midweek with Bayern playing Barcelona and old head coach Hansi Flick, while Stuttgart travel to Italy to face Juventus.
Bayern Munich XI:
Manuel Neuer (5), Raphaël Guerreiro (6), Dayot Upamecano (6), Min-Jae Kim (6), Alphonso Davies (6), Joshua Kimmich (7), Aleksandar Pavlovic (-), Michael Olise (6), Thomas Müller (6), Serge Gnabry (6), Harry Kane (9)
Others: João Palhinha (6), Konrad Laimer (5), Kinglsey Coman (6), Leroy Sané (5), Leon Goretzka (-)
VfB Stuttgart XI:
Alexnader Nübel (5), Josha Vagnoman (5), Anthony Rouault (5), Jeff Chabot (6), Ramon Hendriks (6), Atakan Karazor (5), Angelo Stiller (5), Fabian Rieder (5), Deniz Undav (5), Jamie Leweling (5), Ermedin Demirovic (5)
Others: Maximilian Mittelstädt (5), Enzo Millot (5), Nick Woltemade (5), El Bilal Touré (5), Anrie Chase (-)
GGFN Man of the Match: Harry Kane (9)
Goals were like London buses for Kane, he was waiting for his first in three games for Bayern and three came along at once. The 31-year-old could have had a lot more than three goals in this game as he missed several clear chances, some easier than the goals he did score. His hat-trick tonight takes his tally in the league to eight goals, one behind Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush.
GGFN | Jack Meenan