A F̶l̶o̶r̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶W̶i̶r̶t̶z̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶o̶u̶t̶ top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday failed to live up to the billing, instead playing out like a fight between Tyson Fury and a piece of toast that’s been soaking in a bucket.
It’s too early to award the title to Bayern — Borussia Dortmund still has something to say about that — but it’s not too early to give the Ballon d’Or to Robert Lewandowski.
Bayern stormed to a 5-0 lead inside 37 minutes with Lewandowski scoring the first two to give the striker 15 in 11 appearances across all competitions this season. Serge Gnabry also recorded a brace and Thomas Müller added one of his own to move Bayern above Dortmund at the top of the table.
With three minutes on the clock, supporters inside BayArena were just getting settled when Leon Goretzka’s free kick purposefully picked out Dayot Upamecano’s ghosting run beyond the far post.
The center back thumped a cross in the general direction of Lewandowski, and that’s all you need to do right now.
LEWA BACK-HEEL FLICK GOAL pic.twitter.com/tGOzhxjMjJ
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 17, 2021
Lewandowski then made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark after Bayern’s left flank of Leroy Sané and Alphonso Davies overwhelmed Leverkusen’s defense, ultimately ending with the Pole taking it off the Canadian and finishing.
Lewandowski double!
He's unstoppable pic.twitter.com/eWPEdTdr0g— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 17, 2021
That second goal shattered the home side, and Bayern quickly added three more in the space of seven minutes for a 5-0 lead by the 37th.
Müller got the third after his fortunate deflection on Niklas Süle’s shot beat Lukáš Hrádecký. Müller then picked out Gnabry for Bayern’s fourth.
BAYERN MUNICH ARE DOMINATING!
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 17, 2021
Gnabry then got Bayern’s fifth after a neat exchange of passes with Goretzka.
5-0 BAYERN
WHAT IS GOING ON! pic.twitter.com/A6NfMCZQOR— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 17, 2021
To make matters worse for Leverkusen, the team’s one success on the afternoon, a beautiful Florian Wirtz assist for Patrik Schick in the 55th-minute, probably only confirms the fact that Bayern will soon purchase the 18-year-old German phenom.
Bayern returns to action on Wednesday with a trip to Lisbon to play Benfica in the Champions League. Leverkusen travels to Seville on Thursday to play Real Betis in the Europa League.
