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.<\/p>\n
Under normal circumstances, a 2-1 win at the Bernab\u00e9u 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\u2019re 2-0 up by the 46th minute, you expect a little more out of the final result.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s 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 D\u00edaz seemed the worst affected, fading as the game went on.<\/p>\n
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 Mbapp\u00e9 goal, but it wasn\u2019t the normal game that Vincent Kompany wants to play. The loss of momentum could have been costly if not for Manuel Neuer.<\/p>\n
However, there is another reason Bayern Munich couldn\u2019t 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\u2019t miss gifted chances in the first 10 minutes. You don\u2019t fail to score from 11 corners, many of them back to back. You don\u2019t let Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior make a fool out of your right-back.<\/p>\n
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. Mbapp\u00e9 grew into the game. Trent Alexander-Arnold stuck to D\u00edaz like glue. As for Bayern, second balls were not chased down, counterattacks fumbled at the last hurdle. Lunin barely had to make a save.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t taken. You just cannot do that in the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n
Who are the big game players?<\/p>\n
We learned their names tonight.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a shame he didn\u2019t come out of it with a clean sheet, because he deserved it.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Luis D\u00edaz and Serge Gnabry played tired, but did their part in scoring the opening goal. D\u00edaz, 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\u2019s proving himself a big game player.<\/p>\n
Finally, we have Aleksandar Pavlovi\u0107. What a performance by the youngster! It\u2019s honestly hard to believe he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
As for the other end of the spectrum, Dayot Upamecano. It\u2019s hard to explain what happens to him, but he consistently makes massive errors in big games like this. His massive mistake to let in Mbapp\u00e9 in the second half sums up his night, whether fairly or not. It is the kind of calamitous error we\u2019ve come to expect from the Frenchman at this point. Fans just have to be thankful that it didn\u2019t lead to a goal.<\/p>\n
Michael Oliver, we see you<\/p>\n
It\u2019s rare to see a Real Madrid game officiated fairly, but you can say this one was relatively fair. Hats off to Oliver, he carded Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni when he needed to, which will see him miss the second leg due to yellow card accumulation.<\/p>\n
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 Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior, which was refreshing to see. The Brazilian spent most of the game complaning about non-existent fouls, which the English referee ignored.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s not coincidence that the first time a ref decides to do his job properly, Madrid end up losing to Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n
Miscellaneous observations<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz 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. Stani\u0161i\u0107 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\u2019s luck abandoned them. Mbapp\u00e9 missed multiple chances that he normally wouldn\u2019t, 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 \u2014 IF the second leg goes better than the first.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Apple<\/a>, or any leading podcast distributor\u2026 <\/p>\n