Six goals in the hunt for the title

Thomas Tuchel had been clear in the build-up to facing Schalke in saying: “We’re chasing the title”. And it’s pretty clear after the comprehensive 6-0 win on Saturday that his players had listened. They weren’t just chasing goals out on the field but every ball, every opponent. They were all over Schalke and a joy to watch. It all adds to the hope of an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title. Wins over Leipzig and Köln in the final two games will see to that!

Müller opens proceedings

Captain Thomas Müller led from the front from the very start in this collective display and scored the first goal after nice interplay with Leroy Sane. “I’m happy I got the opener today. It was a great feeling. The Arena exploded and we kept going,” the experienced forward enthused. The goal was his 144th in the Bundesliga, which takes him joint-18th on the league’s all-time standings. It’s seven this season for the 33-year-old, while Sane’s provision was his sixth of 2022/23 in the Bundesliga.

Vice-captain Joshua Kimmich followed suit in leading the side when he took the ball to convert a penalty in the 29th minute for his fifth league goal of the campaign. His long-time friend Serge Gnabry then ran rings in the second half with a 15-minute brace to wrap up all three points at the Allianz Arena. He’s a player currently oozing with confidence, as was seen in everything he did against Schalke. He was given a standing ovation when substituted after 70 minutes. “Serge trained really hard, is a top character who sacrifices himself for the team. I’m very pleased,” Tuchel said after the game.

Gnabry the man of the moment

Having a goalscorer like Gnabry is a great asset in this decisive stage of the title race. He’s got four goals in the last three games to take his tally for the campaign to a club-best 13. Joao Cancelo set up the third with some sublime play on the left, sitting down his opponent to lay the ball back to Gnabry for his fourth Bundesliga assist.

Tel cool off the bench

But that wasn’t the end of the scoring fun. Bayern laid down a marker in the race with Borussia Dortmund as the nimble Jamal Musiala brought up a team-leading 10th assist of the league campaign as he slipped in Mathys Tel. The French teenager was cool and clinical with his first-time finish for his fifth Bundesliga goal. Four of those have been as a substitute, which at the the time of the final whistle was the most in the division alongside Dortmund’s Gio Reyna and Wolfsburg’s Luca Waldschmidt. The former added a fifth in the day's late game.

Mazraoui’s maiden goal

With the 75,000 crowd inside the Allianz Arena already getting excited about a 5-0 victory and the largest win of Tuchel’s tenure, substitute Sadio Mane then produced a deft touch to set up Noussair Mazraoui. The right-back ran through the middle and finished like a forward to wrap up a famous result with his first goal for the club.

After full-time, the team deservedly received the praises of the Südkurve, who had been chanting out “Deutscher Fußball-Meister, FCB” for the majority of the game. It turned to calls of “Super-Bayern, Super-Bayern!” after the game. Tuchel’s side need two more similar performances to guarantee they will get their hands on the Meisterschale for an 11th year in a row. But as Tuchel underlined at his post-match press conference, it’s about remaining calm: “There’s no reason to get all euphoric or think about things being settled. It’s about keeping going, remaining focused and calm.” Anyone who saw the celebrations after each goal knows that this team is ready to see things out.

Read more about the game in our report: