Facing a side they have never beaten before, Darmstadt won’t have banked on this match to make up any of their 12-point deficit to guaranteed safety, but Mathias Honsak’s test of Manuel Neuer 15 minutes in certainly fuelled the fire for the hosts.
Bayern failed to heed that early warning, and a Darmstadt bolt from the blue sent shockwaves through the Bundesliga just before the half-hour mark. Honsak skipped away from a couple of defenders and nudged it across to Tim Skarke on entering the box, leaving his teammate to slide underneath Neuer.
Hoping for a miracle to catch Bayer Leverkusen at the Bundesliga summit, Bayern knew that nothing but a win would do here, and they wasted very little time getting back on level terms.
New Germany call-up Aleksandar Pavlovic surged into the area and squared to Harry Kane, who laid it off for Musiala to slot in the equaliser. Then they completed the turnaround before the break as Joshua Kimmich turned his man to dig out a cross, allowing Kane to leap to head in his 31st of the campaign – an outright record for a Bundesliga newcomer.
With that early setback taken care of, Bayern set about making up a potentially vital gap in goal difference to Leverkusen, calling upon their young star to extend the lead just after the hour mark.
Darmstadt defenders were all at sea when trying to deal with Musiala, who evaded their many challenges and beat Marcel Schuhen despite the stopper’s best efforts.
With the hosts now all but finished off, Serge Gnabry was next on the scoresheet 10 minutes later, profiting from Musiala’s deft through ball to slot into the far corner – his second in just over half an hour of play since returning from injury.
And Die Roten had enough in the proverbial locker to bag a fifth in injury time through Mathys Tel, who reached double figures for Bayern as he smashed in from close range following some confusion among the Darmstadt backline.
The Lilies did find a consolation via an improvised finish by Oscar Vilhelmsson, but it was still a very constructive day’s work for Thomas Tuchel’s men, who can only hope that their now seven-point gap to Leverkusen will still stand after the Werkself travel to Freiburg tomorrow. Meanwhile, a 19th league match without victory for Darmstadt signals that time is running out for the league’s bottom club.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
