PLAYER RATINGS | Bayern Munich 5-1 RB Leipzig

The best way to bounce back after their 2-1 loss to Mainz last weekend was Bayern Munich steamrolled RB Leipzig 5-1 to end, a poor year for Bayern trophy-wise, positively.

An electric start to the first half as within 30 seconds Bayern opened the scoring from an own goal from Nicolas Seiwald before Leipzig replied instantly when a long ball allowed Leipzig to play through Loïs Openda who combined with Benjamin Seško to make it 1-1. However, that would be all that Leipzig could muster attacking-wise as they were quite bad, not only in attack but also in defence as Bayern were able to smother them with their possession of the ball and they were rewarded for the consistent chance creation when Konrad Laimer combined with Michael Olise to score against his former club to make it 2-1. A long-range strike from Joshua Kimmich then made it 3-1 and with how the game was going, it looked like Leipzig would probably not get themselves back into the game.

This proved to be true despite Leipzig looking more energetic at the start of the second half but that faded, rather quickly as they left Openda and Seško fighting for crumbs at the top. At the back, Leipzig continued to fight for their lives with Bayern missing several chances to extend their lead. This eventually came in the 75th minute when Leroy Sané, who had missed most of these chances, made it 4-1. Three minutes later, Alphonso Davies made it 5-1. Bayern continued to look dangerous in attack and could have easily made it 6-1 or even 7-1.

The quality of Bayern tonight cannot be understated, in recent weeks they lacked drive in their performances and that showed against Mainz but tonight they looked up for it, a lot more up for it than Leipzig and that showed. Bayern outpressed Leipzig and just were on it in all aspects of their game.

Leipzig on the other hand, was to put it lightly, shit. They did not trouble Bayern’s defence and their game plan left Seško and Openda with nothing. In defence, they were even worse and Bayern easily played through them and it looked like Bayern were playing with 12 men at times, which shows how good the hosts were this evening. It also shows the decline the visitors have gone through over the past 45 days. At the beginning of November, they had one of the best defences in the league, but with how they have performed lately you wouldn’t have known this. The loss will bring into question Marco Rose’s future once again, as performances like that against a team you should be going toe-to-toe against is unacceptable.

Bayern ends the year top of the table and can enjoy the holidays before they go again in the new year against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Bayern Munich:

Daniel Peretz (5), Konrad Laimer (7), Dayot Upamecano (6), Min-Jae Kim (6), Alphonso Davies (7), Joshua Kimmich (8), Leon Goretzka (6), Michael Olise (7), Jamal Musiala (7), Leroy Sané (6), Harry Kane (6)

Others: Aleksandar Pavlovic (6), Eric Dier (-), Raphaël Guerreiro (-), Mathys Tel (-), Thomas Müller (-)

RB Leipzig:

Peter Gulacsi (4), Nicolas Seiwald (4), Willi Orban (3), Luthsharel Geertruida (3), Benjamin Henrichs (3), Xaver Schlager (4), Arthur Vermeeren (4), Antonio Nusa (5), Christoph Baumgarter (4), Benjamin Seško (6), Loïs Openda (6)

Others: Kevin Kampl (5), André Silva (5), David Raum (-), Lukas Klostermann (-) 

GGFN Man of the Match: Joshua Kimmich (8)

A captains performance. A lot of players from Bayern could have won this as they were that good but Kimmich comes away with a great long range effort as well as an assist on top of his commanding performance, not only in midfield but also at right-back where he played the majority of the second half.

GGFN | Jack Meenan