Bayern survive Freiburg fightback as Upamecano stunner and Olise clincher seal 3-1

Bayern return to summit with hard-fought win

Bayern Munich returned to the top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 victory over Freiburg at the Europa-Park Stadion on Sunday evening, but they were made to sweat by a spirited host side before Michael Olise's stoppage-time strike settled a tense contest.

The result, secured under the stewardship of assistant coach Aaron Danks, lifts Bayern above Borussia Dortmund on goal difference ahead of next weekend's Klassiker. Dortmund had overtaken the champions at the summit on Saturday thanks to Maximilian Beier's late winner against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Both teams arrived in Baden-Württemberg having failed to win in Europe during the week. Freiburg were beaten 3-0 at Monaco in the Conference League on October 23, while Bayern were held to a 3-3 draw at Viking in the Champions League on October 14 — a match in which Vincent Kompany lamented his side's "stupid" errors.

Upamecano's stunning solo effort breaks the deadlock

The match was halted inside the opening minute after red smoke from a pyrotechnic drifted across the pitch, and neither side found an early rhythm. But Bayern struck first in the 16th minute through an unlikely source. Dayot Upamecano turned defence into attack in an instant, blocking Niklas Beste's shot before surging forward. Having covered almost the entire length of the pitch, the French defender collected a superb through ball from Michael Olise and finished like a seasoned striker, sliding the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Mio Backhaus.

It was Upamecano's 11th Bundesliga goal in 245 appearances — and surely the first in which he started a move inside his own penalty area, ran the length of the pitch, and beat an opposing goalkeeper one-on-one.

Freiburg refused to be overawed by the reigning champions and continued to probe, with Patrick Osterhage firing wide from distance and Lucas Höler seeing an effort blocked by Upamecano. But Bayern's quality told again before the break. In the 42nd minute, Nathaniel Brown released Serge Gnabry into the left side of the penalty area, and the Germany international finished from a tight angle to double the lead — and bring up a personal milestone.

Gnabry reaches Bundesliga century

Gnabry's strike was his 100th in the Bundesliga, coming on his 267th appearance in the competition. He became just the third currently active player in the German top flight to reach the mark, behind Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric (141) and Bayern team-mate Harry Kane (102).

Much of the pre-match focus had been on Kane, who will discover on Monday whether he has become the first Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001. The England captain has four goals and five assists in six Bundesliga appearances this season, according to a FotMob player snapshot fetched on October 25.

Freiburg fightback forces nervy finish

Julian Schuster's side emerged for the second half with intent, with Derry Scherhant testing Jonas Urbig from a free kick two minutes after the restart. Bayern continued to threaten on the counter, and substitute Ismael Saibari was presented with several openings, while Kane and Saibari forced a fine double save from Backhaus in the 80th minute.

Just when it seemed Bayern would cruise to a third, Freiburg pulled one back in the 82nd minute. Vincenzo Grifo slipped in Jordy Makengo, who nutmegged Sacha Boey before the ball deflected off Bayern midfielder Tom Bischof and into the net. Suddenly, it was game on.

Freiburg threw everything forward. Yuito Suzuki, Igor Matanovic and Cyriaque Irie all featured in a second-half scramble that the Bayern defence eventually cleared, and Urbig produced a seismic save in the 91st minute to deny Matthias Ginter's header bound for the top corner. The offside flag then ruled out a Sacha Boey effort for Bayern.

Olise extinguishes the comeback

With five minutes of stoppage time remaining, Freiburg's hopes of a dramatic equaliser were extinguished. Olise dispossessed Backhaus well outside his penalty area, after the goalkeeper twice failed to clear, before calmly rolling the ball into the unguarded net from distance to seal all three points in extraordinary fashion.

Bayern finished with 17 shots and 2.94 expected goals, compared with Freiburg's 0.99 xG from an identical number of attempts. After a difficult week, the record champions signed off with three points and their sights now set on Borussia Dortmund in the first Klassiker of the season next weekend.