Patient Reds overcome Bielefeld

FC Bayern beat Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 on Saturday evening, retaining top spot in the Bundesliga table. The German record champions were dominant from the off but had to wait for 70 minutes until Leroy Sané scored the only goal, which meant a new record for Bayern: it was Munich's 102nd goal in 2021, surpassing the previous record of 101 goals in a calendar year, set by FC Köln in 1977.

The Bavarians started with Manuel Neuer in goal and Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernández and Alphonso Davies in a back four. Leon Goretzka and Corentin Tolisso featured in a twin holding role behind Kingsley Coman, Thomas Müller and Sané, with Robert Lewandowski up front. Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry and Niklas Süle came on for Goretzka, Sané and Hernández in the second half.

No goals despite dominance

The 12,000 crowd at the Allianz Arena saw Bayern in the driving seat from the start, with the visitors bold at first but increasingly parking the bus. Müller saw a header cleared off the line and a scissor-kick saved before keeper Ortega denied Sané and Davies.

Efforts by Coman and Lewandowski were deflected behind, the latter heading over the bar minutes later. Ortega denied Davies, but Bayern were not clinical enough to convert their dominance into goals before half-time.

Leroy makes the difference

Proceedings were similar after the restart, Sané putting two efforts wide. Bayern created a couple of half-chances now, Tolisso blasting over, but Munich finally got the opener when Musiala's fine pass found Müller, the native Bavarian laying off to Sané, who unleashed a sumptuous drive into the top corner of the net.

The champions were buoyed by the goal, Ortega denying Coman before Gnabry hit the crossbar. Another goal refused to come, but Bayern claimed a deserved victory.

The result takes FCB onto 31 points from 13 matches, one point ahead of Dortmund. Bayern will be back in action next Saturday, when they travel to face their closest rivals in a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash, and they will surely be buoyed by the three points they needed to retain their lead in the table.

Live match report for fcbayern.comby Greg Salmen