Bayern Munich 3-0 Red Star Belgrade: Report, Ratings & Reaction to a Routine Win for FC Hollywood

Bayern Munich ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over Red Star Belgrade, on a night when the home side never truly got out of second gear at the Allianz Arena. 

There was less than a minute between Manuel Neuer charging out of his area for a trademark clearance and Kingsley Coman's header that gave Bayern their first-half lead. In between came Ivan Perisic's smooth stepover and inch-perfect cross from the left. 

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Bayern failed to make their dominance count until the 80th minute, when Robert Lewandowski turned two of the Red Star defenders into the Chuckle Brothers - it was to me, to you as it ricocheted into the Poland striker's path to slot home. It could have been a different story had Red Star's Marko Marin curled his strike the right side of the post just minutes earlier however.

There was a late deluge on the Red Star goal as the Serbian side tired. Milunovic turned a cross onto his own bar and a Lewandowski shot was cleared off the line before Thomas Muller added a third.

Here's 90min's breakdown of the game below.

Bayern Munich

Key Talking Point

How exactly do you replace Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben? It's a tough question and one of Niko Kovac's least enviable challenges in his time as Bayern boss. It's been more than a decade since a Bayern manager was unable to call on the pair!

There was a fresh look and feel throughout this Bayern side, but nowhere more so than the wings - where Ivan Perisic and Kingsley Coman were charged with picking up the iconic duo's baton. Kovac's ability has been questioned at times, but when the pair linked up for the opening goal it was certainly a tick in the 'perhaps he does not what he's doing' column.

In defence it was out with the old (Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba) and in 

with the new as Benjamin Pavard and Luca Hernandez made their Champions League debuts for the club alongside fellow under 25s Niklas Sule and Joshua Kimmich.

With Red Star picking their moments to counter, Kimmich and Hernandez had licence to roam and, in honesty, were more reminiscent of Robben and Ribery as they stretched play and whipped crosses in with purpose.

Sebastian Widmann/GettyImages

However, following their tame exit against Liverpool last year, Bayern fans would have been hoping for a little more intensity. There was a nagging doubt they could have stepped it up a gear or two and really put Red Star to the sword. It wasn't until the final ten minutes that Kovac's side made their dominance count.

There's clearly still room for improvement and we'll have a better idea of how good this Bayern side is when they head to Tottenham in a fortnight.

Player Ratings

STAR MAN: 

Starting XI: Neuer (7); Kimmich (8), Pavard (6), Süle (6), Hernández (7); Tolisso (7), Thiago Alcántara (7), Perisic (7), Coutinho (8*), Coman (8); Lewandowski (7)

Substitutes: Martinez (6), Gnabry (6), Muller (7)

On a night where Red Star played with impressive defensive shape and put bodies on the line, Philippe Coutinho's trickery was key to Bayern's creativity. In first-half commentary on BT Sport he was described as a 'man who owns the ball' and they weren't wrong as he brought the cliche of lending the ball to his teammates to life.

He was always an option, spreading play, flicking the ball behind the Red Star defence and pulling off a cheeky back heel.

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The only fly in the ointment was the sheer number of pot shots and long-range strikes the Brazilian took. Maybe he was eager to impress on his Champions League debut for Bayern, perhaps he's still building an understanding with his teammates or more likely greed got the better of him. 

Red Star Belgrade

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Borjan (7); Gobeljic (6), Milunovic (5), Degenek (7), Jander (6); Cañas (6), Jovancic (6), García (6), Marin (7), van La Parra (6); Pavkov (6)

Substitutes: Vulic (5), Boakye (5), Vukanovic (5)

Looking Ahead

Bayern's toughest Group B test awaits them on the next Champions League matchday when they travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Before that, it's back to Bundesliga action, where the German champions will be expecting maximum points from fixtures against Cologne and Paderborn.

Red Star drew with Napoli and beat Liverpool in Belgrade in last year's Champions League campaign, so will be hopeful of a positive result when Olympiacos visit in just under two weeks.