Sharjah 24 : Bayern Munich, the reigning champions, tightened their grip on the top of the Bundesliga table with a sweeping 3–0 victory over runners-up Bayer Leverkusen in the ninth round, just before travelling to the French capital to face Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in the Champions League.
Bayern (27 points) maintained their five-point lead over pursuers RB Leipzig, who reclaimed second place—lost for just one day—after defeating Stuttgart 3–1 earlier.
Early dominance and bold tactical choices
The Bavarian side gave spectators no chance to witness the anticipated showdown between last season’s champions and the title-holders of the season before, settling matters in the first half through goals from Serge Gnabry (25’), Senegalese forward Nicolas Jackson (31’), and an own goal by Loïc Badé (43’).
Despite his importance in attack, Belgian coach Vincent Kompany chose to leave English striker Harry Kane on the bench for the first half, relying on Jackson alone up front for the first time after starting them together in all four of his previous line-ups.
Bayern bared their teeth and appeared a class above Leverkusen, managed by Denmark’s Kasper Hjulmand, who had been unbeaten in his previous seven league matches since replacing Dutchman Erik ten Hag, dismissed just two rounds into the season.
Leverkusen, who travel to Portugal to face Benfica under Portuguese coach José Mourinho in the Champions League, remain on 17 points in fifth place.
Gnabry opened the scoring after running onto a through pass from Tom Bischof to beat Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flekken (25’). Jackson doubled the lead with a powerful header from an Austrian Konrad Laimer cross (31’), before Badé turned a Rafael Guerreiro delivery intended for Jackson into his own net (43’).
Bayern preserved their perfect domestic record with nine wins, extending their European-wide best start to 15 victories from 15 matches across all competitions this season.
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