On Wednesday evening, FC Bayern celebrated a spectacular 4-3 home win against Manchester United. Despite their success, Bayern still failed to correct their fluctuations in performance within a game. Three insights into the successful CL opener against the Red Devils.
After the last-minute draw against Leverkusen, the Tuchel team wanted to get back on the road to success in yesterday’s CL opener against Manchester United. The German record champions also went into the game as the clear favorite against a struggling United.
Despite a dominant performance in the second half, the Munich team once again failed to decide the game early, so that the Red Devils almost lost the two-goal deficit, especially in the final minutes (Casemiro 88th and 90+5 min.). could compensate. Compared to the Leverkusen game, Bayern managed to win over time this time.
1. First effective, then erratic – insights into Bayern’s victory
A positive trait that is also evident under Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel is that the Munich team can create chances against any opponent. However, even under the leadership of the 50-year-old, exploiting opportunities remains a constant issue in Munich. After Bayern should have capitalized more on their great chances against Leverkusen, they showed a completely different face against United. After a cautious initial phase, the Munich team scored two goals from two chances. A two-goal lead that the game wasn’t actually giving us at that point because United were playing well. The xG (expected goals) value of 0.47 at half-time also makes it clear that this lead was flattering.
However, the Munich team fell into old patterns in the second half. After Harry Kane’s interim 3-1 win, Bayern once again had to decide the game early. The merciless effectiveness in front of the opponent’s goal developed into a hesitant exploitation of chances, which almost became the record champions’ undoing in stoppage time.
The successful CL start has shown that the Munich team also has major fluctuations in form when it comes to exploiting opportunities. The Bavarian offensive is always able to generate the maximum return from a few goalscoring chances, but at the same time they deprive themselves of this strength with a subsequent erratic exploitation of chances.
2. Musiala inspires Bayern’s offensive (again).
So far, Jamal Musiala has not yet fully settled into the new season in terms of sport. When the 20-year-old tore a muscle fiber in training after his committed performance in the Bundesliga opener at Werder Bremen, he missed two Bundesliga games. His failure was immediately noticeable in the Munich game, as Bayern lacked the necessary creativity in their offensive game, especially against FC Augsburg. The German international celebrated his comeback after coming on as a substitute against Bayer Leverkusen, but was still unable to play his usual game.
Things looked completely different last night against Manchester. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, who was not on the bench due to a suspension, gave Musiala preference over original Bavarian Thomas Müller, so that he celebrated his starting eleven comeback. This change in personnel paid off completely, as the youngster was the one who brought the Munich team more and more into the game after a playfully passive opening few minutes. For example, Musiala was able to break away from his opponents with quick physical illusions and thus broke United’s defensive stability. The DFB kicker accelerated Bayern’s offensive game, particularly between the opposing midfield and defense chain, and thus also set up Serge Gnabry’s 2-0 goal (32nd minute).
At yesterday’s CL opener, Musiala once again underlined how important he is for Bayern’s offensive. The offensive all-rounder is currently the only player alongside the in-form Leroy Sané who can make the other offensive players shine with his dribbling.
3. Tuchel still has a lot of work to do
Even though FC Bayern started the new CL season successfully with a win, they still have a lot of room for improvement. Yesterday’s performance once again confirmed that you don’t know what you’re going to get in Bayern games at the moment. Because the high fluctuations in performance during a game simply do not allow for consistency in play at the moment. In fact, the German record champions are not even able to defeat a stumbling opponent early. This also includes managing leads in a playful way, which the Munich team once again failed to do in the home stretch against Manchester United.
Accordingly, Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel still has many problems that need to be solved. However, it must also be mentioned that the Munich team also took a step forward in their development yesterday evening. Unlike in the second half of the season, Bayern are once again able to react accordingly to setbacks.
After FC Bayern took a somewhat fortunate 1-0 lead, they were able to score a second goal just a few minutes later. And even after conceding goals to make it 2-1 and 3-2, the Munich team had the right answer ready and restored the previous gap.
