Newsletter

My God, Barça !: A huge misjudgment by FC Bayern

My God, Barça!
A huge misjudgment by FC Bayern

By Tobias Nordmann

Exactly 13 months after FC Bayern’s historic 8: 2 against FC Barcelona in the final tournament of the Champions League, the start of the new season is less furious. Without Lionel Messi, the Catalans are not only lacking in creativity. The people of Munich take advantage of this mercilessly.

FC Bayern had completely misjudged the situation. It doesn’t happen often. At least not at the level that is almost exclusively concerned with football. At other, higher levels, on the other hand, it happens more regularly that you are overwhelmed by the massive force of the reactions to your own opinion. Sports director Hasan Salihamidžić can report about it right now. He just let it pop at the weekend when he was amazed at Marco Reus and his 90-minute game after the BVB captain had previously left the national team. That didn’t go down well in Dortmund. And probably not with national coach Hansi Flick either. The story of the two is an unspeakable one anyway.

FC Barcelona – FC Bayern 0:3 (0:1)

Tore: 0: 1 Thomas Müller (33.), 0: 2 Lewandowski (56.), 0: 3 Lewandowski (85.)
Barcelona: ter Stegen – Araujo, Pique, Garcia (66. Mingueza) – Roberto (59. Demir), Busquets (59. Gavi), Alba (73. Bucket) – de Jong, Pedri – de Jong (66. Coutinho), Depay; Trainer: Koeman.
Munich: Neuer – Pavard (66th Hernandez), Upamecano, Süle (82nd Stanisic), Davies – Kimmich, Goretzka – Musiala (69th Gnabry), Thomas Müller (82nd Sabitzer), Leroy Sane (82nd Coman) – Lewandowski; Trainer: Nagelsmann.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
Viewers: 40.000

Well, that’s not what this Tuesday evening was about. On this Tuesday evening, the legendary Camp Nou was about getting the new season of the Champions League off to a good start. Well, and what can you say: It worked. That is the Munich point of view. The Catalan view of things is therefore a different one, a rather shocking one: The 3-0 draw against FC Bayern was highly deserved. FC Barcelona was helpless, defenseless. In the first year without Lionel Messi, the club are missing a player like him. That sounds pretty banal and it is. Because at Camp Nou it becomes very clear that Ronald Koeman’s footballers do not know who to help them when they are overwhelmed. And that’s exactly what they were.

The people of Munich did not expect that. They had politely tried to talk the Catalans more strongly than they were. After all, there are other players who could control the ball. And after all, a Barça is an opportunity for many players to prove themselves and assert themselves. The truth is probably different: The transfer policy of the heavily indebted club had only one thing in mind, to prevent the most brutal crash imaginable. The squad, in which there are still a lot of top talent slumbering, was supplemented with experienced footballers. Very few have high international quality. The fact that Barça never succeeded in putting Munich under stress is the current reality that is possible with this squad.

Champions League title is the goal

What is possible for FC Bayern? Good question, probably a lot. Maybe even a triumph in the Champions League? Well, who would like to answer that seriously after the first game day? At least not (yet) coach Julian Nagelsmann. “If we continue to play like this, we’ll get into the knockout phase, that’s the first goal. Then it’s about doing that again and developing,” he said. “Only then are we one the favorite – if not, not. “But, added Nagelsmann ambitiously,” we try to be one. Everyone has a great desire to sit in front of this advertising board more often. “Even before the start of the premier class, the 34-year-old had finally emphasized that the handle pot was the most desirable trophy.

In Munich, at the highest club level, they have been sure for weeks that with “creative solutions” on the transfer market they have got a squad that is absolutely capable of fulfilling the record champions’ high goals. The championship is part of it anyway, the cup too and always the Champions League. It should stay that way, although the competition has done a historical madness in the duel for the superstars this Corona summer. The beneficiary of wild poker was Paris St. Germain. Lionel Messi, who FC Barcelona could no longer afford and had therefore left the club after 20 years, now plays alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. Messi is just the prettiest horse in the stable. A defense centurion Sergio Ramos has also found refuge there after a bizarre departure from Real Madrid.

Manchester United, for example, experienced on Tuesday evening that the frenzy of euros, dollars and other currencies does not always pay off. The team that had Cristiano Ronaldo as the icing on the cake, conceded a lightning knockout at Young Boys Bern. Incidentally, the Swiss are trained by David Wagner, who last had to endure a sporting horror at FC Schalke 04 that only happens every few eternity. Well, back to FC Bayern. He did his job in Barcelona extremely confidently. It started a bit lost in sleep, but got better and better. However, a humiliating 8-2, as in the last duel of the proud clubs on August 14th last year, was never possible. Nevertheless, it was a humiliation for the hosts because they didn’t have the slightest chance.

Sané significantly improved

The midfield of FC Bayern, it was mercilessly dominant. The back four, that was seldom or never called for. And up front, yes, Leroy Sané just continued with the good things that he had achieved again with the national team. There under ex-coach Flick. Is it really smart of the Munich team to launch attacks against the national coach? Well, Sané was dribbling, he kept pushing and he worked well against the ball. He really seems to have understood that talent only develops when the attitude is right. One of whose work they praise is Jamal Musiala. Every day the club falls a little more in love with its super talent, which also has moments at Camp Nou that herald a world career. His shot before the 2-0 was overwhelming that he only clapped the post, bad luck.

But bad luck is not a valid category in Munich. Because where other players and teams despair because they lack precision, FC Bayern has Robert Lewandowski. The striker remained attentive to the action (and he actually always does), followed suit and dusted off. He also scored at 3-0 after a shot from the post, for which Serge Gnabry was responsible. This time, however, the Pole had to do a little more than just hold out his foot. He first let a striding opponent get out. That was very elegant. The only thing missing is Thomas Müller. What was he actually doing? He did what he does so often when it comes to Barcelona. He scored a goal that made it 1-0. No player has scored more often against the Catalans in the Champions League than Müller. It was his seventh goal in the sixth game. This time with a lot of luck. If his shot hadn’t been deflected from 20 yards, he probably wouldn’t have gone in. But (also) so is Müller. That is also FC Bayern. They do, they push, they dominate. And just force goals.

Nagelsmann doesn’t know anything like that, but he enjoys it. In Munich, unlike the former club RB Leipzig, he is no longer traveling as an “underdog” to the away games in the premier class, but with the clear aim of winning them. “I am incredibly happy. It was also exciting for me to see what it is like to work with world stars, ”said the enthusiastic coach. Then he praised the hugely greedy Lewandowski, “he doesn’t stop. That’s a character trait. ”And also his“ playing co-trainer ”Müller. He finally said: “All in all, it’s just really fun to play here. The guys enjoyed it. If you win 3-0 here at the start, that’s a very important signal. ”That’s right. And no misjudgment. No matter how weak Barça was.

.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending