FC Bayern use ‘momentum’ in biggest win of the season

The highest win of the season clocked up, the league leaders caught up and a new goalscoring record established – Saturday’s Bundesliga away game for FC Bayern at Borussia Mönchengladbach was worthwhile for the German record champions in several ways. The convincing 5-1 win at Borussia puts FCB level on points with league leaders Borussia Dortmund and also marks the first team to break the 4,000 goal barrier in the Bundesliga.

Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge paid a "big compliment" to Niko Kovac's team after the match at the sold-out Borussia Park. "The team did very well, created a lot of chances and kept it tight at the back. When you win 5-1 at Gladbach then everybody would have taken that before the game,” said Rummenigge after the biggest win for Bayern in the current campaign.

And Kovac was "very happy" with his players. "That was among the best of our performances this season," said the coach. "We did extraordinarily well over the 90 minutes. Of course, we couldn't assume we'd win 5-1 here. Nobody can do that including us. Our team did well. If you look at the last Bundesliga games we've won all of them except the one against Leverkusen. That's what we expect from ourselves," declared Kovac.

After the 2-1 defeat for BVB at Augsburg on Friday night, Bayern went into their game "fresh and focused from the start" as Thomas Müller noted. With a lightning start and two quick goals, Javi Martinez (2') and Müller (11') put FCB on course for victory early on. Only the Gladbach goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, prevented the game being wrapped up early with several impressive saves. Lars Stindl (37') pulled a goal back to give the hosts hope.

But Robert Lewandowski's goal to make it 3-1 immediately after the restart removed the last doubts about who would win the game. "We twice made a perfect start and that was a shock for Gladbach," was the analysis from Kovac. Serge Gnabry (75') with the 4,000th Bundesliga goal for FC Bayern and a Lewandowski penalty (90+ 1') rounded off the eleventh win from the last 12 games. "The matchday was great for us," said a happy Thomas Müller after the game.

FCB have made up nine points on BVB with seven coming from the last four fixtures. The two title contenders are separated by just two goals after 24 games. "We are happy to be level on points but we know we're still in second place. Therefore we need to carry on working as we have in the past. We'll do all we can on the pitch and hopefully end up top," said the skipper Manuel Neuer.

Even if the title race is back on (Thomas Müller: "Momentum is on our side. We're back on terms"), nobody in the FC Bayern camp was anywhere near breaking out into euphoria. "Nothing has been won yet. We've made up three points but nothing more than that," declared Rummenigge and he indicated the way forward: "It will be good for us to be happy today and hopefully carry on where we've left off next Saturday."