Leipzig cling to Bayern juggernaut and show way ahead for Nagelsmann

It had promised so much, and yet had been such hard going. “It was,” said Leipzig’s coach, Julian Nagelsmann, “like a run in the forest without much football” for his team. For all the pre-match excitement that they might be facing Bayern Munich at the right time, catching them before they were settled into their season stride, much of this felt ominously familiar for those hoping for a meaningful Bundesliga title race again. The leaders versus the champions looked, for a large chunk of early Saturday evening, like the also-rans against the lords of the manor.

This was no evening for anybody to dust down their cliches about Bayern-Dusel, though – the luck of the perennial champions. Any flecks of fortune had been left back at Säbener Strasse, as was clear from the moment when David Alaba pulled a hamstring in the warm-up, leaving Niko Kovac to an impromptu rejig of his XI. Jérôme Boateng came into defence, with Lucas Hernández being pushed out to left-back. It proved to be a significant adjustment.

Bayern’s record signing was involved in two penalty box scrapes in the first half. Firstly, when VAR helped unpick what would have been an unjustly-awarded penalty to the visitors after Hernández collided with Marcel Sabitzer. Secondly, and crucially, Hernández leapt in impetuously on Yussuf Poulsen as time ran out in the first half and with the ball just inside the Bayern penalty box. Emil Forsberg took the kick and converted to give Leipzig a barely believable parity at the break.

To say it flattered Nagelsmann’s side would be an understatement. Leipzig were not so much on the canvas as clutching on to the ropes with their fingernails in order to preserve their place on the floor. Bayern hit them hard from the off, and led in the third minute. Thomas Müller’s victory in his physical duel with Lukas Klostermann was the first period in microcosm. Kovac’s men looked sharper, hungrier, and better prepared. After winning possession, Müller then splendidly played in Robert Lewandowski and he never looked like missing.

This was the best of Bayern – notably, with Ivan Perisić and Philippe Coutinho on the bench – with Joshua Kimmich prowling in front of the back four and Kingsley Coman bringing his electric international form back from France and on to the right wing. It felt like their most irresistible moments from the second half of last season, and underlined how important both Coman and Serge Gnabry are to them in grazing the edges of full throttle post-Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry.

There was disquiet up in the stands, even with the knowledge that Bayern would be aiming to bring their A game. “Julian is the coach,” Leipzig’s CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff, told Sky after the game. “He is doing a fantastic job, and he will have had his reasons why he did not switch (the tactics) until half-time.” “But of course,” he added, “Rangnick and I also talked shop,” with reference to last season’s coach, visiting his old club after his summer exit to take on a wider role as Red Bull’s head of sports.

Such is his assuredness and sense of direction that it’s easy to forget that Nagelsmann is still learning. Here in eastern Germany, he is learning to steward a title contender, and he received a pointed lesson here. Kevin Kampl, nursing a minor injury that will also keep him out of the Champions League visit to Lisbon to face Benfica, was badly missed in the centre of the park, and the coach had attempted to compensate by switching to three at the back.

It didn’t fly. When Lewandowski steamed through for the opener, he had the space to have arrived by bus, with space for Coman in a speedboat at his side. The best young defence in European football was wide open, and flustered to the degree that even with Bayern feeling confident in their domination, Leipzig had not the sufficient poise to counter on the occasions when they won the ball back. The half-time reshuffle, with Klostermann hooked for Diego Demme, and Nordin Mukiele and Marcel Halstenberg providing some needed ballast at full-back, helped them to maintain the foothold offered by Forsberg’s penalty.

Peter Gulacsi, one of the Bundesliga’s more underrated goalkeepers, had been busy and it was testament to Nagelsmann’s switch that there was a twist in the goalkeeping star of the day. Having spent a fair bit of the afternoon as a spectator, Manuel Neuer ended up showing up and then some for his team. He performed a spectacular one-handed save to deny Sabitzer’s wildly swerving shot from range (“I’m used to those from Alaba in training,” he deadpanned afterwards) and then spread himself to deny Timo Werner a late winner.

To his credit, Nagelsmann knows that he’s still learning, and how far his team has to go. “Even if Bayern has a dent, they have always been the most stable team throughout the season,” he told Kicker on Monday. “If you want to be ahead of them, you need the same stability as them. To reach that point is not easy. We have to develop to get there.”

Even if this point felt like minor theft – a sentiment exacerbated by Niklas Süle lingering on the pitch in disbelief after Gulacsi denied him a late, late winner – it also represented validation on that quest. Getting Bayern to bring their best to the party is as sincere as acknowledgement gets.

Talking points

• In the other big-four clash of the weekend, Dortmund cleared out the cobwebs of their shock defeat to Union, putting away Leverkusen (and their old coach Peter Bosz) 4-0. It was almost the perfect Lucien Favre performance, authored by diligent defence, with the return of Axel Witsel in front of the back line vital, and lightning counterattacks led by Paco Alcácer, skipper Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho. “We didn’t make any major mistakes,” said the ever-cautious Favre. It needs to be the mantra of their season.

• It goes from bad to worse for Hertha, now bottom after losing to (and being leapfrogged by) previously 18th-placed Mainz. Quite how they managed it is another question. It was a performance that “would have won seven games out of 10,” said coach Ante Covic, only for the Berliners to concede late set-piece winner to Jeremiah St Juste when they looked the most likely to win. Hertha now have just one goal and no points since the opening draw at Bayern.

• Freiburg are giving hope to the small guys. They won 3-0 at Hoffenheim to go third, and heap the pressure on Nagelsmann’s successor Alfred Schreuder. “I’m not interested in the table,” said his opposite number Christian Streich. “It’s all about how far away we are from the bottom.” His huge smile at full time said differently.

• Their success is making the promoted teams know they should up their game, as Köln sporting director Armin Veh grumpily acknowledged after his side lost the 100th Rhineland derby at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Union were edged out by an injury-hit Werder Bremen while poor Paderborn were swamped by Schalke after again taking an early lead.