On Monday, the new rankings from sports magazine kicker for the first half of the season were published (in German), and they include three Bayern players in the highest category of world-class: FIFA Best Men's Player Robert Lewandowski and FIFA Best Men's Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer appear alongside Joshua Kimmich. It's a special accolade for the Reds' playmaker, and his performance in the 4-0 win over Schalke was the best proof of why it's more than justified.
Impressive performance against Schalke
Kimmich seemed to be more or less everywhere on the pitch. The central midfielder was involved in almost every move, both defensively and in attack - a fact borne out by the match stats. With over twelve kilometres covered, Kimmich put in more legwork than any other player on the pitch. And the number 6 had 115 touches - the most of all Bayern players.
Kimmich pulls the strings in the Bayern game
The 25-year-old consistently gathered the ball in front of the defence and then distributed passes perfectly to his front men. Kimmich is increasingly becoming the record champions' decisive playmaker and has a keen eye for the final ball. Three of the four goals on Sunday came as a result of his passes.
The impressive thing was that most of the passes ended up exactly where his teammates needed them to go. A prime example of this was his deep ball to Lewandowski before the top striker made it 2-0 - a 30-metre cross that flew as if the ball were being pulled by an invisible string. A pass that, like Kimmich, more than deserved to be called world-class.
Thomas Müller was the beneficiary of two of Kimmich's passes against Schalke and put on an impressive performance overall:
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