Arturo Vidal's fourth goal in as many league games shot Bayern Munich to a 1-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt and an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday. Bayern's win means that they cannot be caught before the winter break, which starts December 17, and makes them 'Herbstmeister' (Autumn champions) for the seventh season in a row.
Bayern head coach Jupp Heynckes rang the changes from Tuesday's 3-1 win at home to Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the Champions League, starting midweek goalscorers Robert Lewandowski and Corentin Tolisso on the bench alongside to Germany internationals Sebastian Rudy and Mats Hummels. The biggest shock however was that third-choice goalkeeper Tom Starke, who had been working in Bayern's academy after retiring last season, was thrown into the fray after Sven Ulreich, who has played in place of Manuel Neuer since the Germany captain fractured his foot in September, injured his groin in the warm-up.
The 36-year-old Starke took the field after coming out of retirement in and being named in the club's Champions League squad in September. Frankfurt made a bright start, but Bayern grabbed what proved to be the winner on 20 minutes.
Joshua Kimmich swung in a cross which found Vidal unmarked at the back post to score in his fourth consecutive league match.
Having already picked up a first-half yellow card, Vidal narrowly escaped a red card after fouling Marius Wolf with just under 40 minutes left.
Heynckes responded by replacing the Chilean with Tolisso, but Frankfurt also almost finished with ten men. Wolf was shown a straight red card on 72 minutes for tackling James Rodriguez from behind. However, after consulting with the video assistant referee, the ref reversed the decision, booking Wolf instead.
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