It is sometimes said that there can be good 0-0s. This one is the perfect example. In a boiling Veltins-Arena, Bayern nevertheless took control of operations and increased the offensives, but came up against a Loris Karius in a state of grace on the side of Schalke 04, promoted. With 20 shots including 9 on target, the Bavarians had several clear opportunities without managing to break Schalke’s barrier. Luis Díaz notably had several situations to open the scoring, with one-on-ones that he failed to convert. In the second half, Harry Kane, then Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala, entered to try to break the deadlock, without further success.
But Schalke never just waited to suffer. Buoyed by an exceptional atmosphere and by the activity of Adil Aouchiche, Soufiane El-Faouzi and Junior Dina Ebimbe, the locals regularly managed to get out of their camp and put the Bavarian defense under pressure. Moussa Sylla, alone on the front of the attack, was in all the good shots. Miron Muslic’s players even took advantage of certain opposing ball losses to create dangerous situations. Bayern will therefore be able to regret its lack of efficiency, but also salute the resistance of a Schalke team which stood up perfectly to one of the leaders of the championship and offered its first point at home in 12 years against Bayern Munich. And in the middle of this spectacular evening, Karius, former Liverpool goalkeeper, was one of the great architects of this precious point.
