Thanks to a superb first half and a disciplined second-half performance, FC Bayern deservedly beat FC Augsburg 1-0 on Matchday 17. "Now we have won two games in a row. That's another signal to the rest of the chasing pack," said a delighted Manuel Neuer, who kept his slate clean to equal Oliver Kahn's record for clean sheets in the Bundesliga with yet another shutout.
Reaction from the Bayern camp
Hansi Flick: "We now have 39 points and are first. It was important to get back on track after the two defeats. In the end, the result is what matters. We will work on everything else to do things better again next time. It's our ambition to dominate over 90 minutes, as we did in the first half. We actually had to finish the game off for us, then it took a different course. After the break we made too many mistakes and didn't get into our game. Our ambition is to be up there. Now we have to make sure that we can improve on our performance at Schalke."
Manuel Neuer: "We didn't have that flow in our forward play in the second half. We were too sure that we would score the goal in the second half. It was already in our court in the first half, we had great chances. Unfortunately, things turned out differently and we only had two real chances to score. Of course, we don't dominate the opponents like we used to, but you can't talk our current approach down either. We've now won two games in a row. It's a signal to the chasing pack."
Joshua Kimmich: "We had 15 shots on goal in the first half. We definitely had to go into the break 2-0 or 3-0 up. Then nobody can complain there. In the second half, as is so often the case, we didn't manage to play with the same confidence. We had to fight again and didn't really go for that second or third goal."
Reaction from the Augsburg camp:
Stefan Reuter (FC Augsburg sporting director): "We believed in it [a point] until the last minute. It’s a shame we came up empty-handed. Compliments to the team. They believed in it until the end. It proves that the team are alive and believe in themselves. We often won the ball and were bold but failed to reward ourselves. We were compact and allowed them very little. We had good opportunities.”
Alfred Finnbogason (FC Augsburg): “It’s a tough one to take that I missed the penalty. There’s no excuse. I convert nine out of ten in training but it’s different in matches. I just had to score, I’m lost for words. We did a better job in the second half, and on another day we’d have taken a point.”
The match report:
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