Sommer heroics see Gladbach hold on for draw at Bayern

Berlin — DEU Berlin, Aug 27, 2022 Agence France Presse: Borussia Moenchengladbach maintained their strong recent record against Bayern Munich with an outstanding performance from ‘keeper Yann Sommer securing a 1-1 away draw on Saturday. Gladbach have performed better than any other Bundesliga club against Munich in recent seasons, with two wins and a draw in the 2021-22 season.

Bayern began the match in the same manner they started the season, dominating possession and pinning Gladbach in their own penalty area. Former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane had the ball in the net twice in two minutes in the first half, but had both efforts pulled back for offside.

With Bayern launching wave after wave of relentless pressure on Gladbach, a goal seemed a mere formality, but it was the visitors who took the lead when French striker Marcus Thuram took advantage of a poor error from countryman Dayot Upamecano to put his side up 1-0 in the shadows of halftime. Bayern continued to dominate and almost equalized in the 61st minute through Mane, but Sommer somehow stopped the Sengalese twice in quick succession from close range.

Sommer again saved his side in the 65th minute, somehow preventing Bayern winger Leroy Sane from scoring when one-on-one with the former Man City man. As the game wore on, frustration began to creep into the home side’s game, with Joshua Kimmich, Marcel Sabitzer, Sane and manager Julian Nagelsmann all picking up avoidable second-half yellow cards.

Musiala, brought on by Nagelsmann with 67 minutes gone, set up the equalizer in the 82nd minute, sliding a pass through for Sane to curl the ball past Sommer into the bottom left of the net. Bayern went close several times in the closing stages, but Sommer was equal to