Manuel Neuer lauds Bayern Munich’s resilience, belief in 3-1 win over St. Pauli

It was far from pretty, but Bayern Munich came from behind to beat FC St. Pauli at home 3-1 after they had gone 1-0 down by virtue of a goal from Andreas Hountondji in just the 6th minute. It took stoppage time goals from Luis Díaz and Nicolas Jackson to grind out the 3 points for Vincent Kompany’s side after Raphaël Guerreiro had made it 1-1 shortly before the halftime break.

St. Pauli sat back deep behind the ball, especially after having gone 1-0 up and really made Bayern work to find their chances and it looked like the Bundesliga champions were going to be in for a frustrating afternoon. Diaz’s header and Jackson’s breakway goal relieved what would have been more frustration for Bayern just days after suffering their first loss of the season to Arsenal in the Champions League.

Speaking after the match, keeper Manuel Neuer spoke highly of the belief his side showed to keep pressing on against a resolute, organized, deep-lying opponent. “I think today was a win of the belief. We kept going after we went behind, we got unlucky hitting the woodwork three times. We faced an opponent that defended deep with a back five, so it wasn’t easy to break them down. In the end the two goals in stoppage time were a relief. I think it was a deserved win,” Neuer stressed (via @iMiaSanMia).

Of course, without the late heroics from Diaz and the finishing touch from Jackson, the mood at the Allianz Arena and in Munich could have been far different. A draw against a struggling St. Pauli win just days after losing to Arsenal could have been considerably deflating, but Kompany had a tough task to navigate with his tactics and squad selection with the DFB-Pokal round of 16 clash at Union Berlin coming up next week.