First-half goals from Abdoulaye Ba and Lumor sealed a deserved and dominant home win for 1860 Munich over local rivals, 1. FC Nürnberg.

Team news

It came as no surprise to anyone that after coming through their 2-1 win over Karlsruher SC without injury concern, Vitor Pereira named an unchanged starting side.

As for Alois Schwartz's side, they were dealt a blow in the build-up as Georg Margreitter and Tim Matavz were ruled out in the latter preparations. That meant that Lukas Mühl replaced the former, while Rurik Gislason earned his first start in nine months.

1860 storm ahead in first half

The derby nature of the game was clear from the start and both sides went at each other straight away. An Even Hovland mistake should have been punished by Christian Gytkjaer, though Thorsten Kirschbaum was in the way and made a crucial block from close range with his body.

There were no shortage of tough tackles in the opening exchanges either, with Kai Bülow going in from behind on Gislason as both Dennis Lippert and Abdoulaye Ba followed. While Bülow got a touch to the ball, the latter duo couldn't do so and picked up two early bookings from Frank Willenborg.

1860 were the better side in the early stages and made that pressure count by taking the lead after 16 minutes. Levent Aycicek's corner was whipped in towards the near post and just moments after picking up a booking, the January arrival rose highest to nod past Kirschbaum.

The frantic nature slowed up after that somewhat, although the two teams were keen to come forward in wide areas when the opportunity arose. The battle between Abdelhamid Sabiri and Maximilian Wittek was proving to be the highlight, as two starlets went head-to-head on the same wing.

For all the stalemate it was clear something special was needed to break that down, and Romuald Lacazette provided just that. A hustling, bustling run that saw him end up on the edge of the area resulted in a fantastic switch across the box to Lumor. The Brazilian took aim and fired low, with Kirschbaum unable to prevent him from making it 2-0.

Image credit: Bundesliga.de
Image credit: Bundesliga.de

Nürnberg can't find a way through

After the break, it was a much more quiet beginning to proceedings. The restart brought plenty of possession for the Lions but little in the way of penetration, and it took 10 minutes for anything like a chance to be created. Unfortunately for the hosts, their play around the area wasn't rewarded with a goal as Lumor opted to shoot instead of pass.

The opportunities came at a much more regular rate in the aftermath, as Gytkjaer's attempt to round Kirschbaum was halted and then the sizeable stopper gathered Wittek's low effort well. At the other end, a rare effort from the visitors saw Sabiri's free-kick fly narrowly over Stefan Ortega's crossbar.

The introductions of Lucas Hufnagel and Shawn Parker seemed to give Schwartz's side renewed hope in attack, with the latter trying an acrobatic effort that flashed across the face of goal. As Nürnberg grew more desperate, Kevin Möhwald went to ground without challenge to try and earn a penalty; Frank Willenborg was having none of it.

While conventional methods of going forward resulted in little, the spectacular almost brought reward and a looping cross from Patrick Kammerbauer brought a scrambling save from Ortega. The rest of the clash provided little for either side, though Parker crashed off the underside of the bar as 1860 ended Nürnberg's 41-game scoring run.

1860 pulled seven points clear of the drop-zone after the win, and four behind the Franconians. The middle of the table bunched up massively over the weekend, with just seven points separating 1860 in 15th and Heidenheim in fifth.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]