After the defeat against Leverkusen, FCB coach Julian Nagelsmann looks ahead to the “final” against Borussia Dortmund. But this season, it was above all supposedly weaker opponents that caused FC Bayern to stumble.
FC Bayern is second in the table. After the 1:2 defeat against Leverkusen Munich had to give up the lead in the table. This is an unusual situation this late in the season. The last time that Munich didn’t go into the final spurt as the league leaders on matchday 25 was more than ten years ago. More precisely: In the 2011/12 season.
At that time, Borussia Dortmund was enthroned in first place – and could not be pushed out of there anymore. It was the last time at the end of the Bundesliga season that red and white confetti was not fired into the sky and the Bayern players chased each other with wheat beer.
Nagelsmann announces the final against BVB
FC Bayern still has it in their own hands that these pictures will be repeated this year for the eleventh time in a row. There will be a duel between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund next weekend. No wonder Nagelsmann looked ahead as quickly as possible after the defeat in Leverkusen and made the top game the final for the German championship: “We have to win against Dortmund, otherwise it will be difficult with the championship,” he said.
But for FC Bayern to become champions, it takes a lot more than a win against their eternal rivals. Because its lead in the table is not only due to the strength of BVB – Julian Nagelsmann’s team does not play at the level known from the past decade from the record champions. After this 25th matchday, the Munich team has 52 points and thus fewer than at any time since the 2011/12 season. At that time it was 51. Since then, FC Bayern has had at least 55 points at this point – which would also mean the table lead in the current season.
Salihamidzic: “Not what Bayern Munich means”
No wonder that Nagelsmann’s boss Hasan Salihamidzic chose drastic words after the defeat against Leverkusen: “That wasn’t what Bayern Munich means. I’ve rarely experienced so little drive, so little mentality, so little duel, so little assertiveness,” said the Sports director after the game.
It is an observation that could be made more often this season. Above all, when it comes to supposedly weaker opponents, FC Bayern often doesn’t show the necessary concentration and drive that it takes for granted against top teams and in the Champions League.
Brilliant performance against Mbappé, slapstick against Adli
In the Champions League, FC Bayern is storming from success to success. First, the Munich team did not lose a point in the group phase, won against Inter Milan and FC Barcelona without conceding a goal and then kept a clean sheet against Paris Saint-Germain, which is perhaps the best offensive in world football. The only goals conceded in the premier class came against a weak opponent: Viktoria Pilsen.
During the round of 16 games, Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt fought Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé with self-sacrifice and let them disappear into their cover shadow for long stretches. In the Bundesliga games that followed, they made blatant mistakes against Leverkusen and the not very confident 5-3 win over FC Augsburg, and each conceded a penalty.
17 points lost – FC Bayern wobbles against the “little ones”
This lack of concentration – or in the words of Salihamidzic: lack of drive, mentality and assertiveness – runs through the entire season. The Munich team dropped 17 of the 23 points they didn’t get against teams outside the top five in the table and thus against teams that are actually far outside FC Bayern’s weight class.
So it may well be that Julian Nagelsmann’s team will once again show the Champions League face in the “final” against Borussia Dortmund and offer a gala performance. But for the outcome of the Bundesliga it will be at least as decisive how FC Bayern presents itself against Hoffenheim, Mainz, Cologne, Bremen, Schalke and Berlin.
Source: Blickpunkt Sport 19.03.2023 – 9:45 p.m