Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Bayern Munich: 5 hits and flops as Bayern go top of the table | Bundesliga 2020-21
Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the first Der Klassiker of the league season at the Signal Iduna Park to go top of the 2020-21 Bundesliga.
Marco Reus opened the scoring for the hosts, but David Alaba, Robert Lewandowski and substitute Leroy Sane struck once apiece to seemingly put the tie to bed.
Erling Haaland pulled one back late on to provide BVB hope, but the defending champions weathered a late storm to pick up another three points.
On that note, let us have a look at the five hits and flops from either team in the game:
Hit: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and Roman Burki (Borussia Dortmund)
Both goalkeepers were terrific in the game and worthy of being labeled as 'hits'. Roman Burki was the busier of the two keepers for most of the match, and despite conceding three goals, he pulled off some exceptional saves to prevent Bayern Munich from running away with the game.
He made four saves in total, one more than Manuel Neuer in the game. However, the Bayern Munich custodian demonstrated his sweeper-keeper skills once again by charging out of his box to clear any lingering danger and showed strong hands to deny Reus from close range too.
Neuer has returned to his best form again after his horrific metatarsal injury three years ago while Burki has been Dortmund's number one choice at goal for half a decade now. The first Der Klassiker of the league season provided a glorious exhibition of the goalkeeping prowess of the two keepers.
Flop: Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund)
One of the most sought-after prospects in Europe, Jadon Sancho has developed into a world-class talent since arriving at Borussia Dortmund in 2017. However, his poor record in big games like the Der Klassiker still has the jury out on him.
The English international had another stinker against the champions, rarely threatening the Bayern defence, let alone scoring against them. Lucas Hernandez deserves plenty of credit for that.
The Frenchman firmly kept the 20-year old in check and read his dribbles well. Sancho attempted five but completed only one while he only completed 78% of his passes.
Interestingly, Jadon Sancho has not scored against Bayern Munich in the league in six games now, an anomaly he'd like to correct soon.