February 21, (THEWILL) – Bayern Munich had to come from behind to escape a second consecutive Bundesliga defeat on Sunday, topping Greuther Furth 4-1 at home in a tale of two halves.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team came out with a lot of energy after being thrashed 4-2 by Bochum in their previous league game, but they struggled to get past Furth, who were defending for their lives.
Furth had the game’s first great opportunity. Jamie Leweling took advantage of some sloppy defending to have a one-on-one with Sven Ulreich, but he was unable to beat the veteran goalkeeper.
Furth had actually taken control by the 20th minute, and Bayern were continually running into a brick wall, unable to break through the opponents’ tenacious defence.
That statistic did shift in Bayern’s favour, but the lack of quality in front of goal was stunning, and the Bundesliga leaders had to wait until the final minutes of the half for their first real chance, which was a saved Thomas Muller drive.
To make matters worse for Bayern, a free-kick from Branimir Hrgota rebounded off Marcel Sabitzer and into Ulreich’s top corner, putting them down 1-0 at halftime.
However, Bayern only needed 30 seconds of the second half to tie the game. Serge Gnabry slipped in behind the defence and passed the ball to Robert Lewandowski, who bundled the ball over the line from close range.
The game’s tempo was shifted as a result of that goal. Bayern pressed forward and sent in numerous crosses into the box, and the pressure eventually paid off with a second goal around the hour mark.
Sebastian Griesbeck was unlucky as Thomas Muller’s low cross was fizzed into the area and eventually found its way into the back of the goal.
Soon after, Max Christiansen’s long range effort hit the outside of the post, reminding Bayern that they could not afford to be complacent at the back. Furth, on the other hand, struggled to get forward after that and had to bring on another defender to try to stop Bayern’s onslaught.
However, they were unable to halt the league leaders, as Lewandowski added a second 10 minutes from time and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting added a fourth in stoppage time to seal the victory.
Bayern will travel to Eintracht Frankfurt next time out, while Furth will face Koln.
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.
