A fantastic starting eleven comeback from Jamal Musiala and a goal from Harry Kane have secured FC Bayern a good starting position for the knockout phase of the Champions League. With a 2-1 (0-0) win at PSV Eindhoven, the German football record champions celebrated their seventh win in their eighth game at the end of the preliminary round. The Munich team moved into the round of 16 as second in the league phase and, as desired, avoided the famous FC Arsenal until a possible final.
“It was pretty good, I’m coming in now, it was a good day,” said Musiala about his appearance on DAZN.
The long-injured Musiala’s first Champions League goal in almost eleven months (58th minute), the winning goal from Kane, who came on after an hour (84th minute), and a very good goalkeeping performance from Manuel Neuer’s representative Jonas Urbig, guarantee Bayern now return games in front of their home crowd up to the semi-finals. In the end, Ismail Saibari’s 1-1 equalizer (78th) no longer mattered. In stoppage time, Eindhoven’s Mauro Junior saw a yellow-red card for repeated foul play.
Big rotation for the Munich team
However, coach Vincent Kompany’s team didn’t really rehabilitate themselves for their first Bundesliga defeat of the season against FC Augsburg. Urbig’s individual performance was stronger. After his mistake against Augsburg, the 22-year-old showed what outstanding talent he has with a number of saves, especially in the first half. He was powerless to concede the goal.
The fact that the Dutch champions were still fighting for a place in the playoffs while Bayern had already secured their place in the round of 16 was noticeable right from the start. The PSV fans in the Philips Stadium loudly encouraged their team and created a heated atmosphere.
Urbig had a lot to do early on. Kompany had once again given the former Cologne player his trust despite his mistake from the weekend. Otherwise, the Bayern coach rotated vigorously. In particular, Musiala’s starting eleven comeback and the first Champions League bench spot for top scorer Harry Kane since his move to Munich caused a stir.
Musiala’s strong starting XI comeback
After two short appearances in the league, Kompany brought Musiala straight back into the starting line-up. “Unfortunately there is no soft integration in this phase of the season. It has to be a hard integration. And that is our puzzle at the moment,” Kompany had already said about the installation the evening before.
Musiala suffered a broken fibula at the Club World Cup in the summer and needs to be made fit for the crucial phase of the season. “I don’t expect him to be a top performer,” Kompany said before kick-off on the streaming service DAZN. Instead, the top professional immediately became a difference player again and was the most noticeable player on the offensive.
Africa Cup winner Nicolas Jackson initially stormed in for Kane. “Jackson comes out of the Africa Cup with a lot of momentum. Today that’s fine. That helps Harry too,” said Kompany to the Senegalese, who remained pale.
Karl findet Musiala
The changed Bayern team worked their way into the game. First of all, a free kick from Tom Bischof, which hit the top edge of the crossbar, was the highest of emotions (6th). PSV, with former Bayern talent Paul Wanner, remained the more active team with the majority of options. Urbig had to stretch again and again until the break to keep the score 0-0 at halftime.
Without Michael Olise and Kane, Bayern’s offense hardly took place in the first half. Jackson looked like a foreign body in the top. Even after the change, Eindhoven continued to set the tone.
Eindhoven seemed increasingly tense. In contrast, Musiala in particular was different, as he kept looking for gaps with his well-known light-footedness and found them after just under an hour after a pass from Lennart Karl.
Shortly afterwards, Kompany amazed again with four substitutions. In addition to Jackson, Musiala had also done enough. Kane, among others, was now allowed to take part. Instead of even more offensive power from Bayern, Eindhoven came up again and rewarded themselves for an overall committed performance with the equalizer.
