With a few players battling nagging injuries and the European Super Cup looming, Pep Guardiola opted to rotate his squad heavily for Tuesday's Bundesliga tilt with Freiburg. The results weren't great and the problems with his team were exacerbated by the substitution of Bastian Schweinsteiger late. Bayern's early lead was wiped out seven minutes after that change, with Nicolas Höfler scoring Freiburg's equalizer to clinch a 1-1 draw.
Freiburg vs. Bayern Munich: Final score 1-1, hosts grab deserved point
Between injuries and squad rotation, Bayern didn’t have their best XI on the pitch against Freiburg and it showed.
Alex Grimm
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Xherdan Shaqiri got a start and was arguably the Bavarians' best player on the night. He scored his team's only goal in the 33rd minute, putting an impressive half volley off the inside of the near post off a cross from Thomas Müller. He would continue to be dangerous throughout the game, despite the lack of further scoring for Bayern.
Freiburg nearly scored in the 60th minute at the end of a counter, with Charles-Elie Laprévotte striking the post with a wicked shot from just inside the penalty area. It was a sign of things to come, though Freiburg were only able to find the breakthrough once Bayern’s best midfielder came off. Schweinsteiger appeared to pick up a knock and had to come out in the 79th minute, with Franck Ribéry replacing him in the absence of any other defensive midfielders.
With Schweinsteiger out, Freiburg had plenty of space to counter into and capitalized on it in the 86th minute. Höfler finished off an impressive move, with Freis grabbing the assist, to clinch a point for his side.
While Bayern had all of the possession and double the shots of their opponents as per usual, they struggled to truly test Oliver Baumann after Shaqiri’s goal and didn’t do well to stop Freiburg’s counters. It took until Schweinsteiger’s exit for one to finally result in a goal, but Bayern can’t feel like they’ve been hard done by.
Freiburg: Baumann, Günter, Diagne, Sorg, Ginter, Schuster (Höfler 61’), Fernandes, Schmid, Laprévotte (Kerk 60’), Guédé (Hanke 75’), Freis
Goals: Höfler (86’)
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Contento, Dante, van Buyten, Rafinha, Schweinsteiger (Ribéry 79'), Kroos, Müller, Götze (Lahm 63'), Shaqiri, Pizarro (Mandžukić 86')
Goals: Shaqiri (33’)
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