Unlucky home loss to FC Bayern

Tactics and line-up:

Markus Gisdol made three changes to that side beaten in Cologne last week – Anthony Modeste was preferred to Sven Schipplock up front against the record champions, while Pirmin Schwegler and Jeremy Toljan also came in for Nadiem Amiri and Jin-Su Kim respectively. The South Korean was given a rest after featuring in a lot of matches for both club and country this season.

TSG set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Andreas Beck, Ermin Bicakcic, Tobias Strobl and Toljan forming the back four in front of Oliver Baumann. Pirmin Schwegler played in holding midfield, with Kevin Volland, Sebastian Rudy, Eugen Polanski and Roberto Firmino ahead of him. Anthony Modeste was the lone man up top.

Hoffenheim mixed things up in the second half, switching to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 in an attempt to disrupt the visitors' build-up play early on. If that didn't work, TSG got numbers behind the ball. Markus Gisdol brought on fresh legs in the 69th minute, swapping Modeste and Polanski for Adam Szalai and Steven Zuber. A more attacking approach was taken with five minutes left on the clock and a goal needed, as Sven Schipplock replaced Toljan, albeit to no avail.

Match highlights:

18th minute: The first chance of the game goes to the visitors from Munich. Mitchell Weiser crosses from deep and Robert Lewandowski wins the header in the centre. Fortunately, his effort clears the crossbar.

30th minute: A huge chance to go in front! Dante lets a through ball slip under his foot, putting Modeste in one-on-one with Manuel Neuer. The Germany goalkeeper comes out on top though, making himself big and saving with his foot.

38th minute: Bayern open the scoring. Baumann makes a great save from Thomas Müller's strike, but Lewandowski picks up the pieces and passes to Sebastian Rode, who curls an unstoppable shot into the top corner. 1-0 to the away side.

41st minute: Surely a penalty? Polanski goes down in the FCB box under a challenge from Rode. There's definite contact, but the referee waves play on.

48th minute: Big chance for Bayern at the start of the second half. Lewandowski's shot from the edge of the box takes a nick off Beck and bounces behind off the crossbar.

60th minute: Baumann at the double! Two top saves from the TSG no.1 in a matter of seconds. First it's Thiago whose shot is parried, before Baumann reacts superbly to claw away Müller's rebound.

63rd minute: Inches away from the equaliser! Volland unleashes a rocket of a shot from 25 yards, it's got the beating of Neuer, but it just curves past the upright. So close.

87th minute: Lewandowski has a go from 12 yards, Strobl makes the block. The ball falls to the Pole again, but his shot is deflected behind.

90th minute: Very unlucky. Müller beats his man on the right-hand side of the box and delivers a ball into the centre. Captain Beck tries to hook it clear but inadvertently turns it into his own net. That's the last action of the game. Bayern win 2-0.

Moment of the match: 

Not that we want to go on about it, but Rode's foul on Polanski in the penalty area was a key moment in a very tight game. TSG should have been given a spot kick. Who knows what would have happened had Hoffenheim had levelled the scores at 1-1…

Number of the match: 3.83

That's how many kilometres TSG ran farther than Bayern, 117.16 in total. Hoffenheim left everything out there on the pitch, but it simply wasn't enough. The supporters showed their appreciation for it following the final whistle, applauding the players in spite of the result.

Match facts and statistics »