What a great day for FC Bayern! On the club's 121st birthday, the record champions celebrated an emphatic 5-1 home win against 1. FC Köln on Saturday. "It's important to be satisfied with the 5-1 win. We deserved the victory even by that margin," said coach Hansi Flick after the game. In addition to the win, there was another pleasing piece of news: Serge Gnabry, who scored a brace, and Thomas Müller, who set up the important goal to make it 3-1 with his first touch of the game, celebrated extremely successful comebacks. "They were very important to us today as substitutes," said Flick. Reaction from fcbayern.com here.
Reaction from the Bayern camp
Hansi Flick: "It's important to be satisfied with the 5-1 scoreline. We deserved the victory even by that margin. Serge Gnabry and Thomas Müller were very important to us as substitutes today. Leon Goretzka did an excellent job in assisting the goals. That's why he was Man of the Match for me today. We will analyse the game and show it to the team. There were one or two things I didn't like. We'll take each game as it comes. That approach worked well last year. What comes out in the end is up to us. If we put in the performances and pick up wins, we can finish top."
Serge Gnabry: "When Thomas and I came on, it was a bit tricky for us. We hadn't been very sharp or dominant. We tried to lift the tempo and immediately made it 3-1. Then it became easier. In the future, we have to make sure we don’t have these shaky phases in the game, and come out of the blocks quicker. Of course, opponents will always have a chance. But we have to reduce these spells, then we'll be stronger again."
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting: "There were maybe a few times where we lost the ball too easily. Then you run after it and it expends energy. That gives the opponents confidence again. Nonetheless, it was a good game overall and a deserved win."
Reaction from the visitors:
Markus Gisdol (1. FC Köln head coach): "We witnessed a deserved win for Bayern, but the margin was too big. With a little luck we could have done better. Bayern were very effective today and took advantage of the few mistakes we made. We did some good things as well."
Salih Özcan (1. FC Köln): "We never gave up and if we’d made it 3-2, it would’ve been close. We have to take that into account."
The match report:
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