Bundesliga resumed on last Saturday, with an interesting match on Sunday. Despite the leaders of the Bundesliga being short of their best in front of the empty seats in Union Berlin, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller were delighted with Bayern Munich’s return to play.
Having seen Borussia Dortmund close the gap with Schalke’s derby on Saturday, Hansi Flick’s men recovered their four-point cushion with a solid, if unspectacular, performance the following day.
The duo joined the club’s Twitter celebration of the win which puts Bayern on top of the table with a four-point lead.
“We’re glad we were dominant and deservedly took the three points,” Bayern skipper Neuer told the club’s official website. “We could have played better, but we deservedly won the match.
“We’re used to a different atmosphere at this stadium. But it’s down to us, it’s a question of motivation, of attitude and of being aware of what kind of match it is.
“We’re trying to do our best, of course, we’ve worked very hard, and now we want to live up to our full potential.
“It’s a new situation, we have to cope with it. One of the nine matchdays is over. We shouldn’t write off any team.”
Robert Lewandowski’s penalty, his 40th goal of the season in all competitions, put Bayern on the road to a win, paired with a second goal by Benjamin Pavard. There could be few arguments with a 2-0 score, and yet this is not Bayern at its best.
Bayern head coach Flick called it a “workmanlike” and satisfying win in the capital, where Muller saw an early opener cancelled offside.
“We travelled here to take three points, we’ve achieved that,” Muller said. “There was room for improvement here and there, especially in the first 25 minutes, we resorted to too many long balls then. We improved a bit after that.
“We were more confident after the opener; we should have scored another goal before half-time.
“Our display was OK but there was certainly room for improvement. We were excited, just like before matchday 1 in August.
“Both teams coped really well with the circumstances. Our focus is on the sport as soon as the ball rolls.
“Of course, the fans can give us some extra momentum, but we must ignore that. We’re four points clear, we took another step towards our big goal today.”
