With all due (and perhaps a bit) biased respect to Giovanni Reyna and Borussia Dortmund’s decisive beating of fellow title hopeful Borussia Monchengladbach, the Bundesliga’s top story came Friday with the champions.
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Bayern Munich thumped Schalke 8-0, running its win streak in all competitions to 22. That’s just two behind the world record set by Brazil’s Coritiba in 2011.
It’s not just about the extension of the streak, but about the pure domination from the champs.
Hat trick hero Serge Gnabry and midfield prototype Joshua Kimmich continued to play as well as any midfielder in the world. New pal Leroy Sane played a role in three goals while Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, and Leon Goretzka all scored before German-English teenager Jamal Musiala scored to make it eight.
As a domestic bonus, American defender Chris Richards played the final 17 minutes and completed 95 percent of his passes while making an interception.
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As for the record, Bayern will have to work for it. The Bavarians need to beat Sevilla in Thursday’s UEFA Super Cup before visiting a decent Hoffenheim side.
If they win both, Bayern will have a chance to set a Guinness Book record by beating… Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup on Sept. 30.
Now let’s talk about Schalke. While sold midfielder Weston McKennie was starring for Juventus, the remaining players had little to like about their day.
A team that failed to win its final 16 league matches of the 2019-20 season, losing 10, was again oh-so-poor.
If manager David Wagner wanted to get some heat off his back after holding onto his position, this wouldn’t have helped things.
Americans Abroad
— Tyler Adams went the distance at midfield in RB Leipzig’s 3-1 win over Mainz. He was typically tidy at 78-of-82 passing including a perfect 4-for-4 on long balls. Adams had four tackles and won 4-of-9 duels.
— Werder Bremen’s Josh Sargent was deployed as more of a left-sided attacking midfielder in a lopsided loss to Hertha, making one key pass and putting a matching shot on target in an uneven performance.
— John Brooks helped Wolfsburg keep a clean sheet and posted three clearances, three interceptions, and a tackle at center back. He wasn’t as clean passing as usual, but connected on 7-of-13 long balls.
— There were just a few minutes for 88th-minute Eintracht Frankfurt sub Timothy Chandler. He won his only duel and completed his only dribble in the waning moments of a 1-1 draw with Arminia Bielefeld.
— Reyna scored his first Bundesliga goal and won a penalty in 78 strong minutes that featured a perfect 29-for-29 in passes.
— Bayern’s Richards, 20, went 17 minutes and completed 19-of-20 passes while making an interception.
— Stuttgart manager Pellegrino Matarazzo, a New Jersey-born Columbia University product, saw his promoted side lose at home to Freiburg.
— U.S. eligible Norwegian youth international Julian Ryerson was an unused sub for Union Berlin.
Player of the Week
Serge Gnabry was absolutely marvelous. Even considering the lack of, well, everything from Schalke, Bayern’s hat trick man had as many key passes as goals.
Gnabry hit 30-of-35 passes in doing all of his damage on 57 touches over 72 minutes.
The German made three tackles and two interceptions to edge opposite wing Leroy Sane’s 1-goal, 2-assist, 5-key pass day and the hat trick produced by Hoffenheim’s Andrei Kramaric in giving his team three leads and the win.
Team of the Week
Casteels (Wolfsburg)
Framberger (Augsburg) — Lacroix (Wolfsburg) — Pieper (Bielefeld)
Kimmich (Bayern)
Kramaric (Hoffenheim) — Reyna (Dortmund) — Cunha (Hertha)
Sane (Bayern) — Haaland (Dortmund) — Gnabry (Bayern)
- All three of Koen Casteels’ saves in Wolfsburg’s 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen came inside the box, while Lacroix put together a gaudy stat line in front of him: 10 clearances, four interceptions, three tackles.
- No one completed more dribbles than Matheus Cunha’s five. The Brazilian also scored as Hertha hung four on Werder Bremen.
Week 1 results
Bayern Munich 8-0 Schalke
Union Berlin 1-3 Augsburg
Stuttgart 2-3 Freiburg
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld
Werder Bremen 1-4 Hertha Berlin
Koln 2-3 Hoffenheim
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
RB Leipzig 3-1 Mainz
Wolfsburg 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Week 2 fixtures
Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt — 2:30 pm ET Sept. 25
Bayer Leverkusen v RB Leipzig — 9:30 am ET Sept. 26
Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund — 9:30 am ET Sept. 26
Borussia Monchengladbach v Union Berlin — 9:30 am ET Sept. 26
Arminia v Koln — 9:30 am ET Sept. 26
Mainz v Stuttgart — 9:30 am ET Sept. 26
Schalke v Werder Bremen — 12:30 pm ET Sept. 26
Hoffenheim v Bayern Munich — 9:30 am ET Sept. 27
Freiburg v Wolfsburg — Noon ET Sept. 27
Standings
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | PTS |
| Â Bayern Munich | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Hertha BSC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Borussia Dortmund | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Augsburg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 3 |
| Â RB Leipzig | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Freiburg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Hoffenheim | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 3 |
| Â Arminia Bielefeld | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-0-0 | 0-1-0 | 1 |
| Â Eintracht Frankfurt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-1-0 | 0-0-0 | 1 |
| Â Bayer Leverkusen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0-0 | 0-1-0 | 1 |
| Â Wolfsburg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-1-0 | 0-0-0 | 1 |
|  1. FC Köln | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0-0-1 | 0-0-0 | 0 |
| Â Stuttgart | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0-0-1 | 0-0-0 | 0 |
| Â Mainz 05 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0-0-0 | 0-0-1 | 0 |
| Â Union Berlin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0-0-1 | 0-0-0 | 0 |
| Â Werder Bremen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0-0-1 | 0-0-0 | 0 |
|  Mönchengladbach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0-0-0 | 0-0-1 | 0 |
| Â Schalke 04 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | -8 | 0-0-0 | 0-0-1 | 0 |
Bundesliga: Takeaways from Week 1 originally appeared on NBCSports.com
