Joshua Zirkzee continued a stunning start to his Bundesliga career by coming off the bench to score a crucial goal for Bayern Munich.
2019/2020 Bundesliga
2-0
Match Reports
Joshua Zirkzee made another crucial impact off the bench as Bayern Munich left it late to beat Wolfsburg 2-0 with two goals in the last five minutes of normal time.
The reigning Bundesliga champions, whose injury troubles were deepened by the first-half exit of Javi Martinez on Saturday, looked set to lose further ground at the top of the table as visiting goalkeeper Koen Casteels produced a fine performance at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern appeared to be running out of ideas in the closing stages after creating plenty of chances prior to the interval, but substitute Zirkzee - who scored a key goal on his league debut against Freiburg in midweek - again provided a dramatic late intervention.
The 18-year-old converted Thomas Muller's cut-back in the 85th minute to break the deadlock, before Serge Gnabry added a second to make his side's victory certain.
Bundesliga Standings
Match Events
11' CLOSE! Perisic's header saved
Muller sets his sights on a cross to the far side of the 18-yard box for Perisic, who managed to slip towards the back post unnoticed. The delivery is perfect, and the former Inter winger gets power behind his effort, but Casteels keeps both his hands up and parries the header!
16' SAVE! Fine stop from Neuer
Schlager plays a clever pass through Davies and Alaba, but Klaus is unable to beat Neuer with his close-range effort, as the German international made himself big to deny any space.
23' CLOSE! Alaba's free-kick saved
It’s Alaba who claims it, as he takes a dipping effort towards the near post. Casteels didn’t see it until the last moment, but the goalkeeper did just enough to make a one-handed stop after an almighty leap.
29' MISS! Lewandowski misses a good chance!
The winger again gets himself into the penalty area and turns Roussillon three times before firing a strike which takes a touch before going out for a Bayern corner!
45' Injured Martinez replaced by Boateng
More injury concerns for Bayern Munich as Martinez seems to have pulled up while in a race with Steffen to save the ball from going out for a corner. He immediately grabbed his hamstring and went down, as Boateng warms up in preparation.
53' CLOSE! Coutinho's shot denied
In typical fashion, Coutinho cuts inside and bends a curling effort to the top-right corner, but Casteels extends as far as he can to get a fingertip to the shot - pushing it out for a corner! What a fantastic save from the visiting goalkeeper!
85' GOAL! Bayern 1-0 Wolfsburg (Zirkzee)
Zirzkee gets onto the ball and shifts it to the right for Muller, who puts a low cross into the penalty area, which ended up as a return-pass to Zirkee, who couldn’t help himself as he curled his first-time effort into the bottom corner of the goal!
89' GOAL! Bayern 2-0 Wolfsburg (Gnabry)
Lewandowski hits a powerful long ball over the top of the Wolfsburg defence, which Gnabry latches onto and dispatches into the net without any pressure from a defender! The visitors have fallen over at the final hurdle!
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