Sommer the Superman!
Bayern Munich had made their best Bundesliga start ever with 15 goals scored and only once conceded in the last three games, but on Saturday, they had 33 attempts at goal and could beat Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer only once when Leroy Sane finally equalized in the 83rd minute.
Sommer made 19 saves – a single-game Bundesliga record. In those 19 saves, 11 were saved shots from inside the box, four were clearances, two punches, one high claim, and one brilliant double save.
The jaw-dropping double save came in the 62nd minute when he denied Sadio Mane twice.
The previous Bundesliga record for saves was set earlier this year, with Alexander Schwolow's 14 stops for Hamburg – also against Bayern – although his side lost that game 4-1.
"We knew before the game that we will have a lot of work behind with the defence, that we have a lot of crosses, a lot of shots. We knew that. So we said, Okay, we'll try to be compact, try to defend every ball," said Sommer after the match.
"It's normal against a team like Bayern that you can't defend everything, so then you have a goalkeeper or you need a goalkeeper. I am happy that I could make a good performance for us and that we took this point," he added.
If any team was going to frustrate Bayern – which made the best Bundesliga start ever with 15 goals scored and one conceded in three games – it was bound to be Gladbach, which was unbeaten against Bayern last season and stunned the Bavarian powerhouse with a 5-0 rout in the German Cup.
Marcus Thuram opened the scoring for the visitors, capitalising on an error from Dayot Upamecano to race through and stroke the ball home. Sadio Mane had two efforts disallowed before Leroy Sane helped Bayern avoid defeat when he scored seven minutes from time.
Bayern and Gladbach remain unbeaten after four matches, on 10 and eight points respectively.
Comments