bundesliga

Josh Sargent-inspired Werder Bremen hold Bayern Munich to draw

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Josh Sargent played his part as Werder Bremen held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena, with Kingsley Coman sparing the defending champions' blushes.

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Bayern Munich 1-1 Werder Bremen
Goals: 0-1 Eggestein (45'+1), 1-1 Coman (62')

Bayern dominated the early exchanges with Douglas Costa flashing a cross-shot wide, but Bremen created the clearer openings. With a quarter of an hour gone, Milot Rashica put the ball on a plate for Sargent, only for Manuel Neuer to deny the USA international at point-blank range with his outstretched right boot. The Bayern No.1 recovered to make an even better save on the follow-up, diving full stretch to push Ludwig Augustinsson's low drive away from goal. Bayern lost left-back Lucas Hernandez to injury soon after, and might have fallen behind had Leonardo Bittencourt found the target with his volley from Rashica's back-post cross. Full Bundesliga debutant Jamal Musiala threatened to break the deadlock for Bayern, but Ömer Toprak was on hand with a pair of goal-saving challenges at the feet of the 17-year-old. Bremen finally found a way through in first-half added time when Sargent put Javi Martinez on his back, before crossing for Maxi Eggestein to slot home with a superb first-time finish.

Sargent turned provider once again soon after the restart, but Rashica could not find the target on his weaker left foot. Bayern responded in kind as David Alaba fired down the throat of Jiri Pavlenka, before a telling deflection off a visiting shirt took a Costa piledriver onto the crossbar. The defending champions went one better with the next foray. Substitute Leon Goretzka hung up a fine ball at the back post, where Coman rose with shades of his 2019/20 UEFA Champions League winner to head his side level. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane entered the fray seconds later, with Bayern setting up camp in the Bremen half for the final quarter. Choupo-Moting spooned over from six yards with Bayern's best chance of a winner, while only another world-class piece of goalkeeping from Neuer denied Sargent what would have been a famous goal as Werder - having lost their last 23 in a row against the Munich giants - became only the third team in 2020 to take points off the reigning treble winners.

Match stats

  • The contest was Hansi Flick's 50th as Bayern coach, and Bremen counterpart Florian Kohfeldt's 100th in a Bundesliga dugout.
  • Sargent has scored seven and assisted six in 46 Bundesliga appearances to date.
  • Bayern have scored at least once in 35 competitive games in a row.
  • Coman equalised with his first goal of the season. It was the first headed goal Bremen have conceded in 2020/21. They shipped the most headers of any team in the Bundesliga last term.
  • Eggestein scored his second goal of the season. He found the net once in 2019/20.
  • It was also Neuer's 400th competitive outing for Bayern and Martinez's 250th, while Thomas Müller moved up to fifth on Bayern's all-time list of appearance makers on 549 games, behind Sepp Maier, Oliver Kahn, Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer.

Watch: Sargent: "We could have beaten Bayern"

Line-ups

Bayern: Neuer (c) - Pavard, Boateng, Alaba, Hernandez (Goretzka 19') - Martinez - Costa (Sane 63'), Müller, Musiala (Choupo-Moting 33'), Coman (Gnabry 63') - Lewandowski
Unused subs: Nübel, Zirkzee, Roca, Nianzou, Richards
Out: Davies (ankle), Kimmich (knee), Süle (unconfirmed), Tolisso (muscular)
Coach: Hansi Flick

Bremen: Pavlenka - Gebre Selassie (c), Toprak, Friedl, Augustinsson - Eggestein, Groß, Möhwald (Mbom 72') - Bittencourt (Agu 66'), Rashica (Chong 90'+1) - Sargent
Unused subs: Kapino, Osako, Selke, Moisander, Rieckmann, Woltemade
Out: Füllkrug (calf), Veljkovic (groin)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

Watch: Müller: "We conceded a very cheap goal"