It could have been so much more. With the chances they had, Bayern Munich should have put this tie to bed in the first half itself. Real Madrid were there for the taking, and somehow they live to fight another day.
Under normal circumstances, a 2-1 win at the Bernabéu is nothing to scoff at. It is the first time that FC Bayern have beaten Madrid in the Champions League since 2012. But when you’re 2-0 up by the 46th minute, you expect a little more out of the final result.
There were two issues on the night, fatigue and mentality. In the second half, Bayern Munich stopped playing after the first goal. Stats give the Bavarians over 59% possession in the first half, while Madrid dominated the 2nd half with over 57%. The last time this happened to FC Bayern, they were down to ten men vs PSG.
Let’s address the first factor: FATIGUE. Bayern Munich came into this game after a heroic 100th minute comeback against SC Freiburg. Many of the squad members played long minutes on international duty. Serge Gnabry and Luis Díaz seemed the worst affected, fading as the game went on.
Tactically, gegenpressing was the biggest casualty of the tired legs. In the second half, Bayern often sat deep, employing a low-mid block and letting Madrid dominate the ball. You can say it worked, because they did generate a number of chances and kept the Spaniards down to a single Mbappé goal, but it wasn’t the normal game that Vincent Kompany wants to play. The loss of momentum could have been costly if not for Manuel Neuer.
However, there is another reason Bayern Munich couldn’t close out the game: MENTALITY. If you go 2-0 up with 45 minutes left to play, you at least take a 2-0 back home with you. When the opposition player passes the ball to your feet, you put it in goal. You don’t miss gifted chances in the first 10 minutes. You don’t fail to score from 11 corners, many of them back to back. You don’t let Vinícius Júnior make a fool out of your right-back.
Madrid lacked a lot of quality on the night, but they made up for it with sheer grit and determination. In the second half, they brought the game to Bayern and the Bavarians were powerless to respond. Federico Valverde turned it up a notch. Mbappé grew into the game. Trent Alexander-Arnold stuck to Díaz like glue. As for Bayern, second balls were not chased down, counterattacks fumbled at the last hurdle. Lunin barely had to make a save.
Vincent Kompany can rotate aggressively vs St. Pauli on the weekend to fix the fatigue issue, but the mentality problem is a serious concern. Madrid gave Bayern Munich all the chances they needed to end this tie, and they weren’t taken. You just cannot do that in the UEFA Champions League.
Who are the big game players?
We learned their names tonight.
Manuel Neuer has still got it. The Bayern Munich captain earned a deserved Man of the Match award from UEFA for his exploits, which says something about how much pressure his team was under. He turned back the clock, putting in a true vintage performance. It’s a shame he didn’t come out of it with a clean sheet, because he deserved it.
Michael Olise would be the 2nd candidate for MotM, all he needed was another goal or assist. The Frenchman dominated Carreras on his side of the pitch, winning his duels so often the Madrid defender was forced to foul to stop him. The assist to Harry Kane was his least impressive contribution on the night, which is saying something.
Luis Díaz and Serge Gnabry played tired, but did their part in scoring the opening goal. Díaz, who has gained a reputation for being wasteful with his chances, scored on the biggest stage against the biggest opposition. Between this and the PSG game, he’s proving himself a big game player.
Finally, we have Aleksandar Pavlović. What a performance by the youngster! It’s honestly hard to believe he’s only 21 years old, he plays like someone much older. He faded somewhat near the end, perhaps due to a lack of fitness after his injury, but he gave an excellent account of himself against a formidable Madrid midfield that dismantled Man City.
As for the other end of the spectrum, Dayot Upamecano. It’s hard to explain what happens to him, but he consistently makes massive errors in big games like this. His massive mistake to let in Mbappé in the second half sums up his night, whether fairly or not. It is the kind of calamitous error we’ve come to expect from the Frenchman at this point. Fans just have to be thankful that it didn’t lead to a goal.
Michael Oliver, we see you
It’s rare to see a Real Madrid game officiated fairly, but you can say this one was relatively fair. Hats off to Oliver, he carded Aurélien Tchouaméni when he needed to, which will see him miss the second leg due to yellow card accumulation.
As for the rest of the game, he allowed the game state to flow with few interruptions, but called fouls where appropriate. He was especially strict with Vinícius Júnior, which was refreshing to see. The Brazilian spent most of the game complaning about non-existent fouls, which the English referee ignored.
After so many games where Bayern Munich have been robbed by the match officials, getting a relatively fair referee seems like a blessing. Of course, there was the penalty shout by Olise at the end which he ignored, but we can forgive that one. It’s not coincidence that the first time a ref decides to do his job properly, Madrid end up losing to Bayern Munich.
Miscellaneous observations
- Díaz not being able to get past his ex-Liverpool teammate TAA messed up the tactical makeup of the system. The attack became far too reliant on Olise to find the key passes.
- Corners and free kicks remain abysmal. At this point, Bayern Munich should just let the opposition take them and work on scoring from a counterattack, it seems more likely than doing anything with these awful corners.
- Alphonso Davies may have to play in the 2nd leg. Stanišić had a hard time against Vini, so putting Konrad Laimer there could make the difference.
- There needs to be heavy rotation against St. Pauli if Bayern Munich are going to make it through this tie.
- For the first time in a long while, Madrid’s luck abandoned them. Mbappé missed multiple chances that he normally wouldn’t, and they made numerous errors at the back (which, unfortunately, did not turn into goals). A small crack in their aura appeared today, which Bayern Munich may exploit — IF the second leg goes better than the first.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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