A late first-half goal by Joshua Kimmich against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday sent Bayern Munich seven points clear off Lucien Favre’s men.
With the goal, the 25-year-old German displaced Donald Trump as the top-trending subject on Twitter in the US. It was not only his goal that grabbed the headline, as he also set the record for the most distance ever covered (13.73 kilometres) by a Bayern player since 2013-14, when tracking data was first measured.
Apart from the versatile youngster, there were several talking points, like Alphonso Davies’ blistering backtrack run to stop Erling Haaland from scoring. The young Canadian clocked a top speed of 21.9mph (35.3km/h) while chasing back against the Dortmund forward.
Davies also grabbed the headlines when Bayern visited Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in their Champions League round-of-16 tie in February. The 19-year-old, playing as a left-back/wing-back, not only kept Mason Mount at bay but also provided an assist to Robert Lewandowski’s goal with a rapid pace.
Furthermore, Dortmund might have considered themselves unlucky after it appeared that Haaland’s shot had hit Boateng's arm inside the box. No VAR was called into action and Dortmund had to do with a corner instead.
Having said that, while there were praises for the Canadian prodigies, many questioned why the video assistant was not called into action during Boateng’s incident.
Alphonso Davies just registered a speed of 35.3km/h (21.9mph) chasing back against Erling Haaland. That's almost into the Top 10 recorded speeds in the @Bundesliga_EN all-time.
— Alex Chaffer (@AlexChaffer) May 26, 2020
You never actually have a breakaway if Alphonso Davies is on the field.
— Kiyan Sobhani (@KiyanSo) May 26, 2020
Davies is a cheatcode. #BVBFCB
— Stefan Buczko (@StefanBuczko) May 26, 2020
Alphonso Davies' recovery speed is disturbing
— Zwë 🍟 (@ZwebackHD) May 26, 2020
Ok where’s VAR for boateng punching the ball when it was going in then
— Callum :) (@mcfc_callummm) May 26, 2020
How has that hand ball by Boateng not gone to VAR? He literally stopped the ball going in with his elbow. Madness #BVBFCB
— Sam Patterson (@__sampatterson) May 26, 2020
With a crowd imploring for a penalty for every single block, guarantee you refs go to VAR for the Boateng block.
— EiF (@EiFSoccer) May 26, 2020
Players would have likely paused and forced a replay as well.
Interesting to see how the absence of fans has had an impact on even the slightest of details.
VAR should have told referee to have a look at Boateng's elbow clearance. Wonder if Dortmund missed a trick by taking the corner too quickly?
— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) May 26, 2020
