Robert Lewandowski broke Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s record for most goals in a Bundesliga season by a non-German national as champions Bayern Munich extended their unbeaten run to 19 league matches with victory over Freiburg.
Bayern Munich 3-1 Freiburg
Goals: 1-0 Kimmich, 2-1 Lewandowski (24’), 2-1 Höler (33’), 3-1 Lewandowski (37’)
Any hopes Freiburg had of Bayern being in party mode after their midweek title wrap were quickly dispelled as Thomas Müller shot wide and Sarpreet Singh drove over off a black-and-white shirt in a one-sided opening. The 29-time champions duly went ahead in the 16th minute when Lewandowski teed up Joshua Kimmich for a sweet side-footed finish from the edge of the box, before getting in on the act himself. Alexander Schwolow could only parry from Leon Goretzka following a brilliantly unorthodox piece of play from Müller, allowing Lewandowski to head in his 32nd Bundesliga goal of the season and set a new Bundesliga record for a foreign-born player in the process. Lucas Höler reduced the arrears massively against the run of play from close range, before Lewandowski turned in Lucas Hernandez’s low cross to restore Bayern’s two-goal cushion.
Müller drew a flying save from Alexander Schwolow shortly before the half-time whistle, and was involved in Bayern’s first real opening of the second period. Michael Cuisance could only blaze his stand-in captain’s lay-off over, though, at the end of a move that was crying out for a precision finish into the top corner. Freiburg didn’t fold, but they didn’t seriously trouble Manuel Neuer understudy Sven Ulreich either, with substitute Luca Waldschmidt thrashing wide from Nils Petersen with his side’s best move of the half. Bayern lacked the chutzpah that underpinned their every move earlier in the contest, but still continued to pick holes in the visiting defence as Hernandez shot wide and Müller combined with substitute Joshua Zirkzee to near-devastating effect. With the game sewn up, US U20 defender Chris Richards and 17-year-old Jamal Musiala were afforded their Bundesliga debuts in the closing stages. Freiburg, for their part, went home with their hopes of UEFA Europa League qualification dashed.
