January 15, (THEWILL) –Â Bayern Munich won their first game of the year in a 4-0 triumph over FC Koln on Saturday afternoon, as Robert Lewandowski scored his 300th Bundesliga goal and Die Roten set yet another record.
Bayern scored in their 66th consecutive Bundesliga match, breaking their own previous record. Since football returned after COVID-19 forced Germany into their first lockdown, the club has not played a game in the league without scoring.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team did not take long to reset the record books on Saturday, breaking the deadlock in the ninth minute after the referee had initially signalled offside, which VAR overturned. Thomas Muller teed up Lewandowski, who held his run precisely, to finish smoothly past Marvin Schwabe as the visitors stormed away in usually devastating fashion.
Bayern extended their lead 14 minutes later when Corentin Tolisso scored a spectacular goal. The Frenchman latched onto Marcel Sabitzer’s cross-field pass and connected casually with Muller in the Koln box before blasting a picture-book half-volley into the top corner.
The Billy Goats, on the other hand, kept their heads up and posed a constant threat to their opponents. They thought they had pulled a goal back before halftime, but a VAR review wrecked their celebrations. Mark Uth performed a superb job of sidestepping Benjamin Pavard and slotting past Manuel Neuer, but the assistant referee system indicated that he was offside before sprinting onto Florian Kainz’s through ball.
That was a snapshot of their display as their lack of clinical finishing and movement in the advanced areas cost them. Lewandowski punished them again soon after the hour mark.
Jamal Musiala’s squandering of a one-on-one opportunity saw the Bayern player’s furious shot strike the post after the break, but Lewandowski, the Bundesliga’s top scorer, found his second of the day with a perfect finish from substitute Leroy Sane’s assist.
The hosts responded at pace and forced Neuer to make a quick save before hitting the crossbar from a corner, but they were left to lament missed opportunities once more as Lewandowski finished his hat-trick to notch his 300th Bundesliga goal.
Sane had the chance set on a plate after some superb effort and vision from the striker, and the Pole forward calmly swept in for a historic moment.
Despite being on the lookout for further goals, that strike was a fitting way to close the game, as Bayern could walk off the pitch with beaming smiles after regaining a six-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table.
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.
