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Football does not always reward what it deserves. German giants with a bench full of international stars like Leroy Sane in front of an ambitious Austrian team full of vitality and emotion.
Another night, it would not be unreasonable to see Salzburg with at least two goals in their favor at half-time and an iron fist in the game.
But football and justice are not interchangeable, and Bayern gave a lesson in opportunism. Robert Lewandowski’s touch before the break delivered the coup de grace, as Sane and a hard own goal by Max Wober added sparkle to a scoreboard that did not reflect what happened.
Salzburg had its history when Marc Roca received a second yellow for a reckless challenge and dragged one back through Mergim Berisha, but a host of missed opportunities, including a terrible blast from Dominik Szoboszlai, sealed his fate.
As a minute of silence filled the Allianz Arena in tribute to the death of Argentine legendary Diego Maradona, a level of intrigue could be felt before a ball was kicked.
Bayern entered the game knowing that a win here would be enough to close the standings. Matching Manchester United’s 16-game winning streak in the Champions League was also an added incentive.
But before kick-off, Bayern’s options were more than third than first.
This was not a Bavarian side in the same vein as their starting XI just three weeks earlier, which eviscerated Salzburg 6-2: the dynamic midfielder duo Joshua Kimmich and Corentin Tolisso were out injured, as were defenders Niklas Sule and Lucas Hernández. to leave the defensive line largely suspect.
Chris Richards was making his Bayern Champions League debut from behind.
And the Salzburg front line was quick to investigate.
Mohamed Kamara sent a buzzing shot to Manuel Neuer from outside the area after two minutes: the Austrian team’s save was ready.
A series of offensive pressures high up the field from the visiting side began to generate the initial momentum.
The initial one-way residential traffic script was beginning to look ill-calculated.
But when Bayern had possession of the ball in their opponent’s half, a reminder of initial quality was not far off.
A Coman crawl found Serge Gnaby free on the edge of the box. When the German applied the control, the next step was not entirely necessary, as the ball anguishly curved around the upper right corner in 10 minutes.
Lewandowski entered the fray very early and saw his shot fly high above the bar. But it was a warning of things to come.
Salzburg soon threw caution to the wind, feeling an early goal within reach through shaky side passes through Bayern’s defense.
Sekou Koita took advantage of a moment of panic from David Alaba in the 15th minute to deliver a sublime floor pass to forward Berisha, who grabbed the ball to his left and hit it in the middle riff of Neuer.
The ball bounced towards Enock Mwepu, who spun like a London bus, allowing Neuer to return to position to save the tame shot. Less than a minute later, Berisha had an opportune moment to redeem himself from a perfectly weighted Szoboszlai air cross.
But Alaba had his share of redemption when he burst in to knock the attacker off his balance.
Bayern grew in competition as the first half progressed: Lewandowski increasingly had a taste of possession.
He made his way into the area with a bulldozer at the half-hour mark, but his center was cleared by Wober of the line. At the other extreme, the Hungarian hero Szoboszlai, who propelled his team to Euro 2020, became a villain.
A center of momentum from Berisha fell to the feet of the forward in a golden one-on-one with Neuer, but was only able to throw the ball to row Z.
Lewandowski’s next foray just before halftime wasn’t quite as forgiving. Goalkeeper Cican Stankovic closed off Thomas Muller’s shot, only for the ball to fall to the Pole and he made no mistake going into the net.
It amounted to a punch to the stomach at half time for the visiting team, who had wasted a lot of opportunities.
Salzburg came out on the front foot, but the fight gradually began to fade.
Mwepu won a free kick that Szoboszlai fired harmlessly, and then Berisha turned and fired at Neuer.
The Bavarians went ahead and scored two goals in the 51st minute in fortunate circumstances.
A goal-bound shot from Kingsley Coman was deflected from Wober to fly past Stankovic, in an effort the keeper appeared to have covered.
The match seemed to have pivoted a grade or when Bayern midfielder Marc Roca received a second yellow for a reckless challenge on Zlatko Junuzovic.
Think again: Former Manchester City forward Leroy Sane, who had come off the bench minutes before Roca’s expulsion, rushed into the area to head home hard and increase the goal margin.
This Salzburg team was full of conviction and spirit in the face of the harsh reality of football.
They weren’t going to leave Germany without a fight. Mwepu had his shot saved at point-blank range, but Berisha couldn’t be denied three minutes later to slip home a clean cross from Rasmus Kristensen.
It was reviewed by VAR for what seemed like an age, but justice was on its side this time.
They pushed for more, but left knowing that on another night, it could have been very different.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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