Sadio Mane on target as Bayern Munich ease into DFB Cup second round
Sadio Mane scored on his DFB Cup debut as Bayern Munich booked their place in the second round after overcoming third-tier side Viktoria Cologne 5-0 on Wednesday evening.
Viktoria Cologne 0-5 Bayern Munich
Goals: 0-1 Gravenberch (35’), 0-2 Tel 45’+1 (assist: Gravenberch), 0-3 Mane 53’ (assist: Gnabry), 0-4 Musiala 66’ (assist: Müller), 0-5 Goretzka 82’ (assist: Sane)
The game was far from the David vs. Goliath match-up that many predicted, however, particularly in the early exchanges, as the hosts boldly went on the front foot. Viktoria were aggressive in the tackles and frequently sought to get behind Bayern, and thought they had taken the lead in the 20th minute when Simon Handle lashed past Sven Ulreich from close range, only for it to be rightly disallowed for offside. The visitors’ class gradually began to show, however, with home goalkeeper Ben Voll making several fine stops before Ryan Gravenberch broke the deadlock on 35 minutes after good work from Thomas Müller. Gravenberch was involved again as Bayern extended their lead on the stroke of half-time, feeding Mathys Tel to rifle in a brilliant maiden goal for Julian Nagelsmann’s side.
Bayern began the second period with intent, eager to capitalise on their advantage and effectively kill the tie off as a contest. After making Viktoria chase the game for the opening few minutes, Mane pounced to tap in a Serge Gnabry pass following Joshua Kimmich’s brilliant ball over the top. Jamal Musiala made sure of Bayern’s place in the next round with a clinical finish just moments after coming off the bench, exchanging quick passes with Müller before coolly slotting past Voll. They added further gloss to the scoreline late on as Leon Goretzka made it 5-0 on his comeback from knee surgery, striding forward from midfield to place a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Match stats
- Mane has scored five times in six competitive outings for Bayern.
- The Africa Cup of Nations champion has previously won domestic cups in England and Austria, scoring 13 times in 17 appearances across the FA Cup and ÖFB Cup.
- Müller is now level second with Oliver Kahn for appearances among Bayern players past or present (632), behind only Sepp Maier (702).
- The last time Bayern fell at the first hurdle in the cup was in 1994/95 (1-0 vs. Vestenbergsgreuth), but they have failed to get beyond the second round in the last two years.
- Bayern won their only previous competitive encounter with Viktoria 3-1 in the 1979/80 DFB Cup second round.
- Marcel Risse made 176 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer Leverkusen, Nuremberg, Mainz and Cologne, including 11 against Bayern.
Teams
Viktoria: Voll - Koronkiewicz, Siebert, Greger (Buballa 62'), May (Palacios 78') - Sontheimer (Philipp 78'), Saghiri - Risse (c) (Heister 62'), Fritz, Handle - Meißner (Stehle 62')
Unused subs: Bördner, Kubatta, Hemcke, Lankford
Out: Becker (knee), Lorch (cruciate ligament), Marseiler (ankle)
Coach: Olaf Janßen
Bayern: Ulreich - Mazraoui, de Ligt, Hernandez, Stanisic - Kimmich (Goretzka 68'), Gravenberch (Sabitzer 80') - Gnabry, Müller (c) (Choupo-Moting 68'), Mane (Musiala 63') - Tel (Sane 63')
Unused subs: Neuer, Upamecano, Coman, Davies
Out: -
Coach: Julian Nagelsmann
As it happened!
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