Der Klassiker was as entertaining as we could have hoped for, with Bayern coming out 1-0 winners on the road in a surprisingly even affair.
A cool and confident performance was what Bayern Munich needed on the road in Der Klassiker, and that's exactly what they got, handing arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund their first loss in eight matches and walking out of the Westfalenstadion 1-0 winners thanks to a first-half goal from former Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski.
The match started out open and exciting, though Bayern quickly started putting the brakes on Dortmund's energetic counter attack and started controlling more and more of the match. The Bavarians still had issues beating Dortmund's defense, though, struggling against their offside trap and seeing Sven Bender do a good job of keeping Bastian Schweinsteiger in check early on.
As the match progressed, though, so to did Bayern's control of the match, and it slowly looked more and more unlikely that Dortmund would find a way to score. Their chances were few and far between, and they only actually got one shot off in the entire first half. Bayern only got three, but made one count, with Roberto Lewandowski running free and getting his head on to a rebounded save after Roman Weidenfeller parried a shot from Thomas Müller. Seeing their former number nine score quieted the previously rowdy Westfalenstadion crowd.
Dortmund came out in the second half with more energy and aggression, but they couldn't find a way through Bayern's back three. Pierre-Emerick Aubemayeng tried all sorts of different angles and runs to get past them, but the forward got swallowed up every time he tried to break through, especially when he tried to face off with Jerome Boateng. Aubemayeng's issues meant that Bayern could pay extra attention to guarding against Marco Reus, and were able to keep the German star at bay, managing to continuously shunt him in to wider areas and tougher angles to shoot from or try to set up a teammate.
Jürgen Klopp tried to make life easier for his attacking pair with a double substitution in the 68th minute, bringing on Shinji Kagawa and Adrian Ramos in a move designed to get Reus and Aubemayeng the ability to get in to better positions, or at least give Bayern more to worry about. Neither of the men Kagawa or Ramos replaced, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Kevin Kampl, were having particularly effective days, so it was a worthwhile effort to make.
The move almost paid dividends just two minutes later when a ball over the top saw Reus pull away from Dante in a sprint for the box, but Manuel Neuer made a typically brave -- and moderately crazy -- decision and ran out to swat the ball out of Reus' path. If it hadn't worked, the Dortmund forward would have had a free shot at goal, but Neuer's confidence is only matched by his ludicrous skill, so he pulled his insane effort off.
Another attacking sub with a little over ten minutes left almost saw Dortmund find a way to break through Bayern's defense, but Pep Guardiola's squad held firm and saw off every effort Dortmund made to score. Their formation and tactical setup, wasn't just well-suited to holding possession, it also allowed Bayern's midfield to collapse back and clog up Dortmund's passing lanes with ease. The hosts found it nearly impossible to break that swirling mass of red-and-blue shirts down, and even a late free kick from Reus that saw him drill the ball to the bottom corner couldn't get Dortmund a goal, with Neuer clawing the ball off the line at a full stretch.
The win sees Bayern continue to build their ludicrous lead atop the Bundesliga, while Dortmund's efforts to claw closer to European places after their miserable start to the season is temporarily stalled. Still, their overall performance should be an encouraging sign for Dortmund fans, and they're a whole lot closer to the high-quality side of the last few years than the Dortmund team that started the season in relegation form. It just wasn't meant to be for them in this edition of Der Klassiker.
Borussia Dortmund : Roman Weidenfeller; Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nevan Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer; Sven Bender, Ilkay Gündogan (Henrikh Mkhitaryan 79'); Jakub Blaszczykowski (Shinji Kagawa 68'), Marco Reus, Kevin Kampl (Adrian Ramos 68'); Pierre-Emerick Aubemayeng
Goals: None
Bayern Munich : Manuel Neuer; Mehdi Benatia, Jerome Boateng, Dante; Rafinha, Philippe Lahm (Thiago Alcantara 69'), Xabi Alonso, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Sebastian Rode 58'), Juan Bernat; Thomas Müller (Mario Götze 79'), Robert Lewandowski
Goal: Lewandowski (37')
3 things
1. Dortmund are back in their best form, but Bayern are still better - Dortmund had a sharpness and quality to their play that they lacked the last time these two sides met, when they lost their halftime lead and the match in the last 20 minutes of the match. They've been in much-improved form, having gone unbeaten in seven league matches and seeming capable of causing a more realistic threat to the runaway league leaders. Every time Dortmund got forward, though, Bayern just shrugged, won the ball back, and built up play again. Pep Guardiola's side is just absurdly good.
2. Bayern's depth is unfair - Even with Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, and David Alaba all hurt, Bayern only needed to tweak their formation a little to account for it, switching to more of a possession-focused setup than the driving attack we've seen recently. In fact, with this formation, which is still very, very talented, Guardiola was able to leave Mario Götze on the bench despite the key injuries in attack. That's ridiculous.
3. Marco Reus is very good, but can't do it all himself - The German international does a lot of things very well, but without support he's just one man. With Aubemayeng struggling to break through the Bayern defense, Reus had to try to be both facilitator and finisher, and it just didn't work very well. That's not really a mark against him, as very few players can take on a team as good as Bayern basically on their own, but Klopp still took an awfully long time to respond to the lack of support Reus had. It's little surprise that the attacking substitutions Dortmund made freed up Reus and improved the side on a whole, but they came too late to make enough of a difference.
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