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Bielefeld took a beating against Bayern – like Masaya Okugawa against Alphonso Davies here
Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP
To VAR to be beautiful:
For two or three minutes, the Munich guest game at the Bielefelder Alm seemed to leave room for a classic football fairy tale.
Then, when Arminia, who had spent the first 20 minutes of the game with 14 percent possession of the ball and brought just over every second pass to their teammate, seemed to score a wonderful goal: Masaya Okugawa let a liberating blow deep from his own half on his his own head before putting the ball over Tanguy Nianzou and then over Manuel Neuer into the goal (43').
But because Okugawa's shoe peeked just over the offside line and this did not go unnoticed by the video assistant Markus Schmidt, the Bielefeld euphoria quickly gave way to sadness, which should be symbolic of Arminia's course of the game.
The result:
3:0 (2:0) won the record champion, defending champion and designated new Bundesliga champion FC Bayern Munich at Arminia in Bielefeld.
You can find the match report here.
The starting position:
For the guests from Munich it was not about anything sporty, Arminia Bielefeld needed and needs every point in the relegation battle.
Nevertheless, football Germany looked primarily at the favorites - of course, because they are Bayern.
But especially because of the mixed situation that had arisen after the surprising Champions League defeat against outsiders Villarreal, in whose slipstream further disruptive fire - Robert Lewandowski's unclear future, death threats against Julian Nagelsmann, doubts about the suitability of the squad - had flared up.
The first half:
Bayern had something to play for: their reputation, if it could be restored on Easter Sunday in Bielefeld.
And they did so in the early minutes with noticeable anger in their stomachs.
Bielefeld neither got the ball nor got into the duels, Lewandowski only missed a goal because Stefan Ortega directed his header to the crossbar and post in the same action (8').
Joshua Kimmich, who was ailing recently, kept getting his beloved chip balls behind the defense, which also initiated the scene that, after a VAR check, led to Jacob Laursen's own goal (10th).
A ten-minute firework of chances followed - and then a lot of idle time before Serge Gnabry's goal in added time also withstood the video review (45 + 6).
Arminen's trauma:
Actually, the game had already invited you to take a deep breath: In the 20th minute it was defender Guilherme Ramos, who after a duel seemed to sort himself into the series of serious head injuries in the Bielefeld squad.
But the Portuguese was able to continue the game after a few minutes, unlike Cedric Brunner and Fabian Klos in the weeks before.
Only: He shouldn't remain the last injured Bielefeld player of the afternoon.
Shortly before the break, Nianzou's elbow hit Fabian Kunze's skull, Armine had to leave the field with the stretcher and go to the hospital.
Nianzou saw yellow, was well served and was substituted in the second half.
"An educational measure," said Nagelsmann after the game.
"That was a red card for me, I'll be honest."
The second half:
Bayern were better, but they couldn't shake off a certain agitation.
Striking talent Patrick Wimmer in particular, whose summer move to VfL Wolfsburg had become public during the week, repeatedly threw up the FCB defense.
But because referee Matthias Jöllenbeck decided on a penalty kick neither in Wimmer's (57th) nor in Okugawa's (65th) favor and Amos Pieper's chance to score the goal did not go into the goal (63rd), the comeback didn't materialize.
Jamal Musiala's 3-0 (84th) made the result even clearer.
Two finals:
For Bielefeld, the horror scenario of being relegated back to the second Bundesliga after two years in the Oberhaus remains an extremely realistic one.
Because Hertha BSC surprisingly won on Saturday, Bielefeld slipped to 17th place and is two points behind Stuttgart in the relegation place.
Three points are missing from Hertha – the best chance of catching up is in two weeks in a direct duel.
FC Bayern can even complete its minimum goal of the championship next week, quite strikingly on Saturday evening in the home game against the so-called pursuer Borussia Dortmund.