Result: Arminia Bielefeld 1-4 Bayern Munich
Date: 17 October 2020
Venue: Bielefelder Alm
Bayern Munich resumed Bundesliga action with a commanding 4-1 victory over newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday evening.
Bayern made four changes from the win over Hertha Berlin, with Benjamin Pavard, Niklas Sule, Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman all being recalled.
The visitors were on the front foot early on as Thomas Muller opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a strike into the top corner after latching onto a rebound inside the box.
Robert Lewandowski doubled the lead for Hans-Dieter Flick's charges in the 25th minute with a powerful strike from the edge of the box after a cut-back from Leon Goretzka.
The game was opening up in the closing phase of the first stanza, with Bielefeld venturing forward and the Bavarians capitalised on the break, as Lewandowski gave them a commanding 3-0 lead in first-half stoppage time with a deflected shot on the edge of the box.
Bayern were theatening to run riot coming from the break, with Lewandowski being denied but the woodwork four minutes inside the second stanza but Muller eventually made it 4-0 two minutes laterwith a strike into the top corner to complete his brace.
Ritsu Doan pulled a goal back for the hosts just before the hour-mark with an early shot from the edge of the box after going through on goal.
However, Bayern were reduced to ten men in the last quarter of an hour after Tolisso was shown a straight red card for denying Fabian Klos a goal-scoring opportunity with a tackle from behind.
Javi Martinez was unlucky not to add a fifth goal for the visitors in the last 11 minutes with a header that came off the post from a corner situation but Bayern were already out of sight, as they remain just a point behind leaders RB Leipzig in second place.
