SG Festival Of Football 2023: Bayern Munich 4-3 Liverpool

It was goals galore at the Singapore National Stadium last evening with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and Premier League club Liverpool treating attendees to a seven goal thriller that kept everyone glued to their seats.

The Germans won the match 4-3, scoring the winner in injury time and clinching the Singapore Trophy presented by Audi and Standard Chartered in the process.

Floodgates open

Opening the floodgates in just the second minute was Liverpool, when Cody Gakpo fired the Reds in front after a one-two with Diogo Jota.

The Reds doubled their lead in the 28th minute via a Virgil Van Dijk header off Andy Robertson’s corner.

Bayern Munich draw level

However Liverpool’s two-goal cushion lasted just five minutes. In the 33rd minute, Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnanry halved the deficit thanks to a brilliant Kim Min-Jae pass. Leroy Sane then found the back of the net, just ten minutes later when he connected with Gnabry’s pass.

The two sides were level at half time, with match attendees having already witnessed four goals. The stadium crowd, mostly Liverpool supporters, was boisterous and noisy, creating a non-stop ruckus at the stadium and showing their support with cheers and chants sung throughout the evening with plenty of feeling and passion. It seemed like Singapore’s National Stadium had become Anfield for the evening.

The second half saw lots of substitutions being made by both teams, with the two sides eager to give more players a chance to prove themselves ahead of the upcoming season.

3-2 to Liverpool

In the 66th minute, Liverpool once again took the lead, with Luis Diaz slamming the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

Bayern Munich score to make it 3-3

Bayern Munich found the equaliser through Stanisic in the 80th minute when Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson pushed Matthijs De Ligt’s header into his path. It was poor defending on Liverpool’s part. And Stanisic made no mistake from close range. At this point, the match looked to be heading towards a draw.

4-3. Injury time winner for the Germans

But then in added time, Bayern Munich’s 20 year old Academy product Frans Kratzig confidently smashed a long pass from De Ligt straight into the roof of the net, giving then the lead and also crucially sealing the victory for the Germans. Alisson is left stunned and speechless. At this point, there would not be enough time for Liverpool to equalise.

And for the first time in over 90 minutes, the National Stadium crowds fell silent.

This result puts an end to Liverpool‘s unbeaten pre-season run.

Plenty of promise from Kratzig

Said Thomas Tuchel, Bayern Munich coach, on the young Kratzig, “He’s a lovely guy, he’s very intelligent and smart on the pitch. He was very strong when we changed him to an offensive position. I didn’t know how well he could play. Today he finished a very spectacular attack and played a good match. I’m very happy.”

Klopp takes positives from the game

Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager, took positives from the match despite his side losing.

He said, “The goals we conceded were due to a lack of concentration in that moment and were all very similar. The atmosphere was great and the fans created something really special and from the first second, we were super welcomed.”

He added, “I hate losing, it happens, but this is pre-season and it’s a strong opponent. We could have scored a fourth goal, but there are lots of good stuff, and stuff to improve on. That’s how it is and we keep going. The physical aspect of today’s game was super important. We scored really good goals in the first half and there were good moments.”

Van Dijk also echoed his manager’s opinions. He said, “Overall it was a good game for the neutral fans and a lot of goals so that was not boring for the fans. There were so many good things today as well. But obviously, we still have to improve as well. That’s what we’re going to work on next week. We’re going to fight to make it right.”

A perfect finale

The match saw a huge attendance of 49,983 spectators in total. It was the perfect finale to the Singapore Festival of Football which also saw Tottenham Hotspur beat Singapore 2021 Premier League champions 5-1 last week, followed by Liverpool’s defeat of 2016 English Premier League champions Leicester City 4-0 on Sunday.

Said Timothy Ho, Managing Director, TEG Asia, “It was heartening to see over 130,000 football fans united by their love for football filling the National Stadium. We are always looking to bring live sporting and entertainment events to Singapore and the electrifying atmosphere on and off the pitch has made this event a very special one.”