Bayern Munich Crash Into Karius: Schalke Keeper Denies Rout in Stunning 0-0

Bayern Munich fired fifteen shots at Schalke 04's goal, touched the ball 914 times to the home side's mere 183, and still left the VELTINS-Arena with nothing to celebrate. The final score was 0-0, and the name that comes up most in the story isn't a Bavarian forward but the home goalkeeper, Loris Karius, who held the line against a siege that, statistically, looked destined to end in a rout.

The match, part of the Bundesliga, had a clear script from the opening whistle: Bayern took the ball and never let go. As early as the 2nd minute, Lennart Karl tested Karius from outside the box off an assist from Aleksandar Pavlovic, and shortly after, Nathaniel Brown followed up with a high shot that sailed over the crossbar. Schalke, meanwhile, barely showed up going forward: an attempt from Moussa Sylla in the 19th minute and another from Adil Aouchiche in the 35th were their only real answers in a scoreless first half despite the visitors' dominance.

Karius, the Wall That Held

The second half didn't change the script, it just turned up the volume. Luis Diaz tried his luck several times (in the 53rd, 62nd and 67th minutes), and Jonathan Tah came close to a header in the 54th, when his effort off a corner grazed the crossbar. Harry Kane, who had come on at halftime for Nathaniel Brown, also had his chances: a header in the 81st minute and a shot from outside the box in the 86th that Karius tipped onto the crossbar. Dayot Upamecano, deep into stoppage time, struck the woodwork again in the 87th. None of it found the net. Bayern created chance after chance, but poor finishing and the home goalkeeper stood in the way time and again.

The numbers tell the story of just how one-sided this game was:

The post-match xG, calculated from the shots taken in the game, backs up that dominance: 2.103 for Bayern against just 0.335 for Schalke. It's a measure of what was created on the field, not a prediction, but it makes clear the visitors deserved far more than they got.

A Forecast the Result Didn't Honor

Before kickoff, our projection gave Bayern an 87% chance of winning, against just 4% for Schalke and 9% for a draw. We also had expected goals at 3.73 for Bayern and 0.82 for Schalke, with a combined total near 4.5 goals for the match. None of it played out that way: the result ended up being exactly the least likely of the three outcomes, a draw, and a scoreless one at that.

The match also had its share of cards: yellows for Junior Dina Ebimbe and Dayot Upamecano in the first half, and for Aleksandar Pavlovic and Nikola Katic in the second, all for dangerous play. Both coaches shuffled their benches looking for answers (Bayern brought on Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise before the hour mark, while Schalke responded with several changes between the 64th and 83rd minutes), but the underlying story of the match never budged: plenty of the ball for the visitors, little to show for it in front of goal.

In the standings, this point leaves Bayern Munich in fourth place with 4 points from two matches played, while Schalke 04 remain in the relegation zone with just 1 point from their two outings. The gap between the two sides in the table stands at 3 points. What Schalke takes from this night at the VELTINS-Arena is, above all, a point the numbers said shouldn't exist.