Bundesliga: Momentum swings back Bayern's way in title race

A week is a long time in football. As Bayern slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt had appeared to mark a shift in the impetus in the title race. Eight days on, Bayern are back on top and in control after a little help from some highly questionable officiating in Bochum on Friday.

Recent defeats, not least by Manchester City in the Champions League, and off-field events have taken their toll on this group of players. The atmosphere was flat at the Allianz Arena as the club’s pursuit of the Bundesliga title, their minimum requirement, increasingly feels like a joyless slog. Whoever wins the title will be the team that slipped up the least and, for now at least, Bayern are limping towards the Meisterschale after yet another below par display.

Gnabry rediscovers his touch

Thomas Müller was again told to start this one from the bench, with Tuchel switching back to Sadio Mane at the apex, supported by Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry on the flanks and Jamal Musiala just behind. It’s the seventh straight game that Tuchel has changed his attacking quartet so it’s little wonder his team lacks fluidity. Mane and Musiala were hooked on the hour after largely anonymous displays, with Bayern only getting through after the introduction of Müller and Ryan Gravenberch.

Just as Joao Cancelo was booked for kicking the ball away and the mood inside the stadium was becoming increasingly restless, the breakthrough arrived. A lucky ricochet was followed by a dreadful clearance by Hertha defender Filip Uremovic which arrived straight at the feet of Joshua Kimmich. His pinpoint ball found Gnabry, whose diving header was the expert finish that this forgettable game didn’t deserve. For Gnabry, it was his first goal in nine Bayern games and his first under Tuchel.

By the time Coman thrashed in a second 10 minutes from time, the gloss had been added to a scoreline that made Bayern look better than they were.

Dardai’s thankless task

Hertha arrived in Munich with Pal Dardai holding the reins for the third time, this time brought in with the thankless task of trying to rescue them from relegation from the top flight. 

The crunch games against Stuttgart next weekend and against Bochum on the penultimate day of the season will have a greater influence on whether Hertha avoid relegation. But six points adrift with four games to play is a scenario that makes relegation appear a case of when rather than if.

A Hertha lifer, with more than 300 games for the club under his belt and three separate spells as head coach totalling five years, Dardai is a coach known for his prosaic but effective strategic approach. Hertha weren’t particularly adventurous in Munich, but their formula worked for over an hour, with Bayern simply unable to break them down. And had Dodi Lukebakio been a little less wasteful when his second half chance came, this could have been a different story.

Bayern got the job done against the Bundesliga’s weakest opposition and the momentum is back with them, but with RB Leipzig still to visit Munich and goals hard to come by, this may not be the last twist in this intriguing title race.