Five Observations from Bayern Munich’s 4-3 win against Real Madrid

BAYERN MUNICH ARE IN THE SEMIFINALS.

Before we get into the game proper, I just want to remind all that we just watched Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid fair and square after a decade of heartbreak. And that is something to celebrate.

While the high from the win looms, let’s look back at the game and see what exactly Vincent Kompany and co. did right (and wrong).

Chess and checkers

Checkers

While at Bayern we are used to sophistication and thought-out tactics, at Madrid, things are a lot simpler. Álvaro Arbeloa does not bother himself with playing chess just because Vincent Kompany does and opts to go down the checkers route.

At no point in the game was the Madrid side trying to control the flow of the game, they simply decided to disrupt the flow of Bayern when they saw mistakes. Notice how it was always a misplaced or an intercepted pass that led to what Madrid did. It never came from possession, buildup, overloads, none of that. These intercepted passes would be relayed as line-breaking long vertical passes that would find the Madrid attackers sat the halfway line. It helped that these attackers had speed and physicality and hence would simply sprint and shoot. Their pace was their lifeline.

This works, except…

Chess

Kompany is blessed with the kind of team that can play possession based, intelligent football. He used that to his full advantage.

Controlling a majority of the possession and having a pivoting point like Aleksandar Pavlović in the midfield meant his side could completely run the show. The midfielders often acted as decoys, drawing the (slow) Madrid defenders out while the attackers would be in the half-spaces and inevitably, the players often always knew who was where and hence could make the right pass.

If you noticed, virtually in every single goal, somehow the Bayern attackers always knew where their closest teammate was. The constant scanning and the positional training that Kompany puts them through truly helps in crucial moments wherein you need to think and act as quickly as possible.

This cannot take away from the fact that Bayern were missing sitters and the wingers were constantly choked by…

Madrid mercados and Munich motorways

Mercado, the Spanish and Portuguese term for markets, is perhaps the best description of the Madrid formation I could come up with.

Just like a busy market wherein the lanes are narrow, busy, loud and crowded, the Madrid formation was so compact to a point of choking Bayern. The ‘checkers’ that I mentioned, cannot function without this setup. The Madrid players were using their numbers to constantly impede any and all movement from Bayern, leaving virtually no space for Michael Olise and Luis Díaz. Forced into a deadlock and constantly forced to miss sitters, the main attacking lifeline of Bayern had been heavily compromised.

However, Bayern’s formation is often more widely spaced. Huge highways with multiple lanes and speedy cars — the Autobahn has a lot in common with how Bayern structure themselves. This is not a tactical disadvantage as such — but was often exploited by Madrid. However, one must not forget, the players we have are extremely special. More on them in the next segment…

Lifetime contracts or loans to the Oberliga?

We are not here to take about the in-betweens. Straight to the extremes — who gets a lifetime contract and who gets tossed straight into the Oberliga.

Lifetime contracts to Dayot Upamecano, Jonathan Tah, Konrad Laimer, Pavlović, Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane are due. The most crucial players on that pitch tonight — all of them repeatedly outmuscled and beat Madrid players for the ball.

So, who gets thrown out? Well, the answer is complicated. One can only wish the list of those who get sent to the Oberliga was straightforward.

First candidate, Manuel Neuer. The goat-keeper is 40. He’s only human. He makes mistakes. But being singlehandedly responsible for two goals is not acceptable. I think it’s just how German keepers are. Perhaps, Manu just wanted to pay homage to Sven Ulreich. If you know, you know.

Second and third candidate, Olise and Díaz. As mentioned earlier, the two were completely impeded by the Madrid’s mercado style.

All three of these players were not completely terrible. They just happened to make mistakes that were avoidable. But they also came through when the game needed them the most. I mean, if it weren’t for Olise’s goal, would we even have the liberty to discuss this calmly and freely? Perhaps not.

But you know, who actually really deserves the lifetime contract? The man who subbed on the two who changed the game.

The Starboy and The Roadrunner

The Autobahn is wide enough to drift where one wants, but Bayern were drifting too wide to find spaces that were not occupied by Madrid. That is when Kompany remembered that he had a 23-year-old on his bench who was magical in tight spaces.

The entry of Jamal Musiala changed the game. Patching the cracks in Bayern’s game, his presence helped his teammates test Andriy Lunin and the Madrid defense repeatedly. As mentioned earlier, the midfielders acted as decoys and at the half-spaces, it was Musiala with any other available attacker, and the youngster was ready to launch the ball at whomever could make the run.

Granted, there were a lot of misses. Nothing he can do about that. But if it weren’t for this constant pressure, Bayern would have never scored the last two goals.

More importantly, Madrid had absolutely no way of getting the ball off him. Who do they think they are?

Davies did a lot directly and indirectly. Coming on as the fire extinguisher, Davies reminded Vinicius that he was playing against Bayern. The Madrid attacker could show his tricks against any other defender, but Davies? The Canadian will chase you down, beat you in a footrace with enough time left on him to get a counter to the final third. The second half was filled to the brim with these moments of Madrid players absolutely given up, because they simply could not do anything but watch.

But what happened at the end of the second half… that, will be remembered for generations.

Game, set, match.

90+2.

You could hear the hearts in white shatter.

Musiala steals the ball off the Madrid defense, weaves his way through the hoards who wanted the ball back, spots Luis Diaz and gets the ball just across Éder Militão and Dani Carvajal. The Colombian went for a strike so narrow, yet so precise and lethal.

90+4.

The silence was deafening.

Olise had just gone for a strike. The cut and shoot. There was no saving Madrid anymore.

As they say in tennis — game, set, match.

Miscellaneous Observations

I would love to talk about the refereeing if it were not for the red card that Eduardo Camavinga picked up at around the 86th. Yes, it was shambolic what happened with Vinícius Júnior. The Madrid goals all came off their fouls that were not called. But there was simply so much more to this game that was to not do with the refereeing.

The truth is, Bayern Munich, and this particular side, are too good to be held back by bad refereeing. It is best we take the win for what it is — a Bayern game that will be remembered for years to come, a win that came despite that refereeing. Despite the side they faced. And that is worth way more than one would think.

I really wish we could have seen Tom Bischof play this fixture. He would have been a phenomenal addition.

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, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

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