Bayern overcome plucky Elversberg

FC Bayern beat Elversberg 2-1 on Sunday evening to return to winning ways in the Bundesliga. Lennart Karl put Bayern ahead midway through the first half before Maurice Krattenmacher levelled on the hour, but Harry Kane restored Bayern’s lead to seal three points.

Munich started with Jonas Urbig in goal and Josip Stanišić, Dayot Upamecano, Minjae Kim and Nathaniel Brown in a back four. Aleksandar Pavlović and Tom Bischof anchored a midfield featuring Karl, Michael Olise and Ismael Saibari, with Kane up front. Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala and Luis Díaz came on for Brown, Bischof, Karl and Saibari after Elversberg’s equaliser.

Karl opens

Munich were in command but struggled to muster up clear-cut chances at first. Kane and Karl saw efforts blocked before Lukas Petkov’s deflected cross hit the side-netting. Elversberg keeper Nicolas Kristof held a curling shot from Karl, who soon scored the opener when he mopped up at the far post after Saibari’s square had evaded Kane and two defenders.

Cole Campbell had a shot deflected behind and Saibari fired wide at the other end. Elversberg had the ball in the back of the net when Campbell beat Urbig, but the goal was ruled out for offside as Bayern remained one up at the break.

Kane seals it

Bayern had a goal of their own cancelled out after the restart when Kane was flagged offside. The home side levelled the scores immediately after that, ex-Bayern man Krattenmacher curling into the top right corner of the net. A Musiala shot was blocked after his introduction and Kristof reacted to Díaz’s back heel.

Bayern upped the ante and Olise had a shot cleared before hitting the bar, but Kane soon restored the lead, firing home on the spin inside the box. Noel Futkeu had an opportunity to level again but couldn’t steer the ball in. After that, Bayern took control and saw a number of shots blocked before a Kimmich effort was tipped over as Munich sealed a narrow but deserved victory to move on to seven points from three games.

The Bavarians will be back in action on Friday when they entertain Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.

Live match report for fcbayern.com by Greg Salmen