MUNICH: A masterclass from Jamal Musiala, as well as a first goal in five games for Sadio Mane, helped Bayern Munich thump hapless Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Friday to snap a four-game winless run in the Bundesliga and climb into second place.

The Germany international delivered a superb performance, scoring one and setting up two more before leaving the field to a rapturous reception when substituted after 81 minutes for a confidence-boosting win ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League group game against Viktoria Plzen and the Bundesliga big match against Borussia Dortmund next weekend.

Asked after the game if the win removes pressure from manager Julian Nagelsmann, Musiala said simply“the pressure was on us all”.

“I think it is still too early. We have to play more games like that so we can’t just say now we are back,” Musiala said. “Everyone in the team wanted to win today. There was pressure on each and everyone of us. We all want to be number one and we showed it today. Pressure is always there at Bayern.”

In a frenzied start, Musiala sent a low cross directly into the path of Leroy Sane, who opened the scoring after just two minutes to settle nerves in the Allianz Arena as the Bavarians were desperate to bounce back following their recent dip in form and their longest run without a win in 20 years.

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder terrorised the Leverkusen defence throughout the game and turned scorer in the 17th minute after a one-two with Thomas Mueller and a slightly deflected shot.

While the play looked spontaneous, Musiala smiled after the match when he said“yeah, we’ve been trying to do that one for a while.”

Musiala turned provider again in the 39th minute, guiding a ball to Mane who scored for the first time since August 21 — which was Bayern’s last victory in the Bundesliga.

Musiala has now scored five times in the league and set up three goals.

Mueller added a fourth in the 84th minute thanks to a howler from Leverkusen keeper Lukas Hradecky, who slipped while trying to pass, sending the ball directly into Mueller’s path.

The goal was the Bayern and Germany forward’s first of the campaign.

Nagelsmann told DAZN“there was a lot written about the relationship between the team and the manager.”

“I’ve always said that you can tell when players leave the dressing room if they respect the manager. And you can see in each game [we have played recently] that the players were fully into it. That was very satisfying today.”

The win lifted Bayern into second place in the Bundesliga on 15 points, two behind leaders Union Berlin, who travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Fellow Champions League club, Bayer Leverkusen, who travel to Porto on Tuesday, slumped deeper into trouble, dropping to 16th in the league.

Coach Gerardo Seoane’s team have won just one of their eight Bundesliga matches so far after finishing in third place last season.

Leverkusen midfielder Kerem Demirbay told broadcaster DAZN after the game his side keeps“losing games in a brutal fashion”.

“It’s very, very difficult for us at the moment. We need to stay positive — the season is long.”

Seoane said after the game“it’s a question of will”. “We didn’t have the necessary aggression. That’s also a mental process”.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2022