In the football cauldron of Villarreal, the Bayern stars quickly disappeared into the dressing room. Robert Lewandowski and Co. were frustrated, while the Spanish fans fervently intoned their club anthem after the surprising coup. A phased indisposed FC Bayern has made a Champions League breakdown. The German champions were even lucky with the 0:1 (0:1) on Wednesday evening, otherwise the possible semi-final against Jürgen Klopps FC Liverpool, who had solved his mandatory task at Benfica Lisbon 3:1 the day before, would have been even more distant .
“Deserved that we lost. We didn’t have much power in the first half, in the second it was wild. It wasn’t a good game from us,” said coach Julian Nagelsmann afterwards at DAZN and complained: “At some point it became hara-kiri. We had slight ball losses. (…) There were two or three things left.”
In the second leg next Tuesday, the Munich team, who are also offensively unimaginative this time, have to play to their home strengths against the Spanish Europa League winners in order to avert the impending knockout in the quarter-finals. Dutchman Arnaut Danjuma put the 23,500 spectators in high spirits with his goal in the eighth minute.
For Thomas Müller, the defeat was “absolutely unscheduled,” said the striker. “We couldn’t deliver the game we wanted. We didn’t have that power offensively, that many chances we created. We started out with more anger in the second half, but then things got a bit wild,” said Müller, adding: “We’ll take this 1-0 lead with us. It could have gone higher. We have to prepare for the second leg and fight back.”
Bavaria with several mistakes
Bayern were very lucky that a goal by Francis Coquelin was disallowed for offside after video evidence (41′). After the break, Gerard Moreno shot the post (53′). For the first time in four and a half years, Bayern, who were stumbling at times, lost an away game in the Champions League – and like the 0: 3 at Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017, the opposing coach was called Unai Emery again.
“These are the weeks that all our players look forward to. Now it’s about winning the titles. Now every game is an endgame. We’re working towards that all year to have such a situation,” Bavaria’s CEO Oliver Kahn had previously expressed his anticipation for the hot weeks at DAZN. The fun factor in the narrow Estadio de la Ceramica was only great for the hosts, because the underdog from Villarreal proved to be an unpleasant opponent. Compact with two back fours and technically well equipped on the offensive, the Spaniards, who played all in yellow, presented FC Bayern with considerable problems.
Unsuccessful in front of the opposing goal: FC Bayern with striker Robert Lewandowski
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Image: AFP
Especially after the early opening goal, which Jamal Musiala, who had recently been brilliant in the national team, initiated with a mistake. Giovani Lo Celso passed the ball to Daniel Parejo, whose attempted shot put Danjuma ahead with his sixth premier league goal of the season. Musiala had replaced Leon Goretzka in the starting eleven, who had just made his comeback in the 4-1 win in Freiburg.
Full-back Alphonso Davies, who made his comeback after a protracted myocarditis as a result of corona disease, was also allowed to play right from the start and was used for the first time this year. The Canadian acted within the scope of his possibilities and prevented the second goal conceded in the second half with a strong defensive action (57th).
As in the round of 16 first leg at RB Salzburg (1-1), Bayern didn’t get going at all in the first half – neither on the outside nor in the centre. It lacked precision, speed and moments of surprise. The Bundesliga leaders, who had scored 30 goals in their first eight Champions League games, didn’t get a dangerous shot in the first 45 minutes. The fact that Müller, Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich had a lively discussion during an interruption showed the dissatisfaction on the part of the German champions.
And it almost got worse for the Nagelsmann team. An unfortunate cross from Coquelin sank into the Bayern goal shortly before the break (41st). But the video referee saw the Frenchman being offside.
The annoyance was written all over Nagelsmann’s face. And that didn’t change in the second round either. Bayern were very lucky again when Moreno hit the post (53′). And then even Neuer made a mistake. The keeper played the ball into Moreno’s feet in the center circle, but the Spaniard just missed the empty goal with a 50-yard shot (62′).
Nagelsmann had already reacted and exchanged the ineffective Thomas Müller and Serge Gnabry for Goretzka and Leroy Sané. Bayern now put more pressure on, but also revealed large gaps in the defensive. Sometimes things went wild in the Bayern penalty area. Goalscorer Danjuma missed another big chance.
