March 12, (THEWILL) – Despite witnessing the lion’s share of the action, Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 tie by fourth-placed Hoffenheim in their Saturday afternoon Bundesliga fixture.
Die Rekordmeister now has 60 points for the season, putting them 10 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga table, despite having played two more games than their nearest opponents.
Expectedly, the Bavarians were by far the more dominant force on the day and deserved to take all three points, but their failure to put Hoffenheim to the sword was disappointing especially after their brutal 7-1 UEFA Champions League blitzkrieg against RB Salzburg in midweek.
In the sloppy opening exchanges, it was Hoffenheim who had the best chance to break the deadlock. Despite having two bites at the cherry, Manuel Neuer and Benjamin Pavard combined to deny Croatian Andrej Kramaric a fourth-minute opener.
Bayern regained their calm and began to dominate the game. After good efforts by Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller were both thwarted by an alert Oliver Baumann, the visitors had the ball in the net after 27 minutes.
Muller swooped low to head Gnabry’s pull-back into the bottom corner, but his joy was short-lived as the linesman’s flagged the goal for offside. The feeling of disappointment was one he would experience again.
Hoffenheim’s goal came against the run of play before the 32-year-old’s second disallowed goal of the afternoon. Christoph Baumgartner neatly volleyed home David Raum’s cross at the back post after a quick breakaway move propelled the team across the pitch at breakneck speed in a rewarding counter-attacking football.
Bayern wasted no time to reclaim control and continued to probe and create opportunities. Muller thought he had finally scored four minutes before halftime, but was later found to be in an offside position before latching onto Joshua Kimmich’s wonderful lofted pass and lethally hammering the ball between Baumann’s legs.
On the stroke of halftime, Julian Nagelsmann’s side did receive a well-deserved goal. Despite their beautiful play in the first half, it was a simple corner that brought them level, as Kimmich’s whipped ball fell perfectly onto the head of Robert Lewandowski, who simply did not miss.
Following the resumption of play, the visiting side required just 40 seconds to put the ball in Baumann’s net, but, shockingly, they had a goal chalked off for the third time. It was again a tight call because before Kingsley Coman’s shot deflected, Lewandowski was in an offside position.
Nagelsmann’s side pressed for a crucial second goal, but a lack of potency ultimately cost them two points after fantastic chances went begging at the feet of Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry, and Thomas Muller.
Despite this, Nagelsmann’s side remains in first place in the Bundesliga, with a match against Taiwo Awoniyi’s Union Berlin scheduled before the international break. Hoffenheim travel to Hertha BSC for their next fixture.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
