Sané shines as Bayern ease past Freiburg

FC Bayern beat SC Freiburg 5-0 on Sunday, rising to second place in the Bundesliga table. Serge Gnabry and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting handed Bayern a two-goal lead before half-time. Leroy Sané and Sadio Mané netted after the restart, with Marcel Sabitzer rounding off the scoreline in the closing stages.

The German record champions lined up with Sven Ulreich in goal and Noussair Mazraoui, Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt and Alphonso Davies in a back four. Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka anchored a midfield featuring Gnabry, Sané and Mané, with Choupo-Moting up front. Jamal Musiala, Benjamin Pavard, Sabitzer, Mathys Tel and Josip Stanišić came on for Choupo-Moting, de Ligt, Goretzka, Sané and Mazraoui in the second half.

Fine first-half display

The 75,000 full house at the Allianz Arena saw Bayern dominate proceedings in an up-tempo contest, although the first shot fell to the visitors, Ritsu Doan firing wide. Davies blasted inches over but Bayern took the lead when a Sane effort from close range bounced off goalkeeper Mark Flekken, with Gnabry on hand to head in the rebound.

Freiburg increasingly struggled with Munich's aggressive pressing game, and Flekken denied Gnabry before Sané teed up Choupo-Moting, who fired home across goal. Gnabry saw another shot saved, and Bayern were two up at half-time.

Plain sailing

The visitors went looking for a reply after the restart, Ulreich being the busier of the keepers, but Bayern soon reasserted their authority. Gnabry hit the post but Julian Nagelsmann's men then put the game to bed, netting twice within two minutes. Sané curled home from 20 yards, scoring himself after setting up the first two goals, and Gnabry soon found the unmarked Mané in the box to lift over Flekken.

Munich continued to dominate. The final flourish came with ten minutes to go, Sabitzer finding himself unmarked to sweep home a loose ball from 15 yards. Tel and Mané fired over late on as it remained five.

The result means Bayern have 19 points from ten matches, four short of table-toppers Union Berlin. The Bavarians will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to face Augsburg in the DFB Cup.

Live match report for fcbayern.com by Greg Salmen