After five minutes the 75,000 crowd at the Allianz Arena wondered whether it was still Wednesday night, when Bayern had scored goals galore in the 5-0 victory over TSG Hoffenheim within 90 minutes. In the 1-0 victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach, there had been a number of chances to score, but more refused to come.
Hunger for goals
The hunger for goals had been appeased on Wednesday. Three days later it first seemed as if FC Bayern would indulge again against VfL Wolfsburg when Leroy Sané hit the bar after a fine solo run and keeper Kamil Grabara only just kept out a Harry Kane effort after only four minutes.
Kingsley Coman, who like Konrad Laimer, Leon Goretzka and Minjae Kim returned to the starting line-up, hit the side-netting and saw another effort saved, and it was still goalless after seven minutes.
Unlikely scoreline
"We had many good chances but failed to make the most of them. But it's hard to create such chances, you can only congratulate the team," said captain Manuel Neuer. Leon Goretzka and Michael Olise netted from distance, scoring FC Bayern's goals number ten and eleven from distance this season, another Bundesliga record. But Mohammed Amoura levelled the scores when he converted Wolfsburg's only shot on goal in the first half and the scoreline at half-time was unlikely. FC Bayern had 72 percent possession and 20 touches in the opposition box over Wolfsburg's four in the first half, but Joshua Kimmich's goal was ruled out for handball and Bayern were only one up despite utter dominance in icy Munich. "At the end we made it a bit exciting again, more than it was supposed to be," said Kimmich: "It's very good we created this wealth of chances, but of course we should have closed it out earlier."
Eberl: We could have avoided it
There were many more chances to put the game to bed, but more goals refused to come. FC Bayern set up combinations, played vertically and attacked but failed to score for large spells. "We had many chances to close it out in the second half," said board member for sport Max Eberl: "We didn't and weren't so focused any more. Suddenly it was 3-2 and we were on tenterhooks, we could have avoided that."
A Goretzka header that found the net after the hour was followed by more gilt-edged chances before Mohammed Amoura scored Wolfsburg's second goal with his third shot after 87 minutes. "Wolfsburg are the third-best team away from home, they're creeping up their way through the table, they don't play so attractively, but they defend very well and always score out of almost nothing," which is just what happened. "I think we had good chances. It was the same against Gladbach, but we kept a clean sheet against them," Manuel Neuer said about last weekend's match, adding: "Today it got exciting towards the end."
Shots galore
At the end FC Bayern had fired 25 shots at goal, with ten on target. "I had some chances today, but it's also important to get these situations in the first place," said Harry Kane: "A compliment to the lads, they did a great job and created these chances for me."
At the end of the day Bayern turned in a very dominant display against Wolfsburg and scored three goals, but they still lacked ruthlessness and luck in front of goal, with regard to Wednesday's Champions League encounter with Feyenoord in particular. Konrad Laimer commented: "I think we're on a good path. The coach and the entire team have had an idea of how we want to play from the beginning, and you can see we're internalising it and doing better more and more."
Preparations for Feyenoord
Kane stressed their dominance before he and his team-mates left: "We dominate the games we have. We must keep utilising this momentum. We must make more out of our chances and reward ourselves for our effort, for our work even more." So that there will be goals galore again in the match against Feyenoord.
Leon Goretzka turned in a strong display and bagged a brace against Wolfsburg:
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