FC Bayern has to admit defeat after two VAR penalties in Leverkusen. With that, Munich lose the lead in the standings to Dortmund.
FC Bayern made a serious mistake in the championship fight with Borussia Dortmund and lost 1: 2 (1: 0) at Bayer Leverkusen. As a result, Munich failed to regain the lead in the table that BVB had taken on Saturday evening with a 6-1 win over Cologne.
Joshua Kimmich initially gave the record champions a 1-0 lead (22nd). Exequiel Palacios struck back after the break with a brace (55′, 73′). He scored both goals from a penalty kick after video evidence. Bayern had to admit defeat when they met Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso again.
On the next matchday, after the international break on April 1st, there will be a summit meeting in Munich. Bayern are now only one point behind in the top game as second in the table.
That’s how the game went
Thomas Müller and Leon Goretzka were in Bayern’s starting XI, but coach Julian Nagelsmann ordered Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry to take a creative break. “Jamal played a lot. He had a bit of a muscular problem in training and back problems,” explained head coach Julian Nagelsmann at DAZN, “but it’s not wild, it’s more of a stress issue.”
Alonso, who played for Bayern Munich from 2014 to 2017, made three changes to Thursday’s 2-0 win at Ferencváros Budapest that saw Bayer through to the Europa League quarter-finals: Jonathan Tah, Mitchel Bakker and Sardar Azmoun were all seated the bank. Instead, Odilon Kossounou, Amine Adli and Kerem Demirbay started.
The latter attempted a cheeky corner after just under ten minutes, aimed directly at goal, but Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer deflected it over the crossbar. Moussa Diaby fired the next warning shot from just under 20 meters four minutes later, but just missed the goal. A dangerous shot from the left by Jeremie Frimpong was again deflected by Sommer around the right post (15′). A lead by the hosts would have been well deserved at this point.
But then Bayern hit with their first chance. After a clever discard by Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich almost scored from the penalty spot with a slightly deflected shot to make it 1-0 for Munich (22nd).
When Kimmich slipped into Florian Wirtz in his own sixteen shortly afterwards, Bayern were lucky that referee Tobias Stieler did not call for a penalty kick (27th). The record champions got the game a little better under control before the break.
In the second half, Nagelsmann brought three fresh players with Musiala, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry. But Müller, João Cancelo and Sadio Mané stayed in the dressing room.
After the change of sides, however, things got strange. Adli first saw a yellow card for a supposed swallow in the Bayern penalty area. After the video referee intervened, Stieler took it back because he realized that Benjamin Pavard had stepped on his heel and gave a penalty. Exequiel Palacios confidently converted it to equalize (55th).
Goretzka had a good chance with a header (62nd). After an outstanding solo and one-two with Gnabry, Musiala just missed the goal (68th).
But then the same game was repeated again with Adli. Again, he initially saw a yellow card because of a supposed swallow. And again Stieler had to take back the view of the video images and instead decided on a penalty kick. Palacios also turned his second attempt into a 2-1 lead.
Bayern increased the pressure in the final stages and tried to avert their third defeat of the Bundesliga season. But they couldn’t equalize.
