Football: FC Bayern: New model of success in the Bundesliga and Champions League

The focus was already on Sunday evening on the Champions League – and that went far beyond Lazio Rome’s round of 16 draw on Monday. At least with a journalist from Tanzania, who gave Munich coach Thomas Tuchel the good news after the 3-0 (1-0) win in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart that many people in his home country believe FC Bayern Munich will win the title believed in the premier class. He wanted to know from Tuchel whether these people should continue to believe in it. Oh yes, they absolutely should, that couldn’t hurt, the coach replied with a smile and tried to draw a link to the game that had just ended. If you play with such good cohesion and create so many chances, then you can win games.

Of course, Thomas Tuchel left it open whether all of this would be enough to make it to the final of the Champions League on June 1st in Wembley and win it. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t yet know that his team would initially face possible opponents Lazio, eleventh in the table in Italy’s Serie A, in the premier class in February and March. »It’s an Italian team that is always well positioned tactically. But we have already had positive experiences with Lazio,” said goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer on Monday.

The previous linking of the clear success against the high-flyers from VfB Stuttgart with the Champions League could still be classified as justified. Bayern emerged strengthened because they had achieved an “absolutely well-deserved victory,” as visiting coach Sebastian Hoeneß openly admitted. In addition, the Munich team was also able to take lessons with them for their own repertoire, which could prove to be valuable experience, especially for the big tasks they were hoping for in the Champions League.

Bayern had taken Stuttgart by surprise with an outsider tactic that was untypical for them, with a concentrated, compact defense and determined counterattacking football. At least situationally, this could also prove to be a successful model against other teams in possession of the ball. Whether in the Champions League, in which they could face defending champions Manchester City later on – or in the Bundesliga in February against league leaders Bayer Leverkusen.

»Of course we want dominance. But especially against opponents like that, it’s nice to see that we can adapt in the interests of success,” said Thomas Müller after the win against Stuttgart. »What we set out to do worked out well. We weren’t so vain as to say we absolutely need 80 percent possession of the ball now.” Instead, it was only around 30 percent until well into the second half. The wait-and-see attitude was also due to the many failures. Instead of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, who were briefly absent due to illness, Raphaël Guerreiro and 19-year-old Aleksandar Pavlovic formed an improvised double six in central midfield.

But FC Bayern’s lurking followed a clear plan. Because of Stuttgart’s ball security, they knew “that we would sometimes give up possession for stretches,” explained Tuchel – and that’s why they often defended deeply and “put the team idea in the foreground.” And that with “hard work, discipline and very close distances”. Unlike before, this time they defended “much more actively” and fought duels, Müller added. “The fact that we can then switch easily is one of our great strengths this six months.”

As an example of Bayern’s unusual style, Harry Kane’s score was 1-0 in the second minute after winning the ball in midfield and Müller’s quick pass to Leroy Sané. The Munich team created many chances using this pattern, but with the flaw of leaving them unused. “On another day we probably could have scored three or four more goals,” said Kane. He was still satisfied. In addition, thanks to the young Pavlovic, there was a standard strength, which resulted in Kane’s 20th goal of the season in the 55th minute and Minjae Kim’s first, each with a header, eight minutes later. Sometimes it just takes a different tactic than usual, said Kane. »In a season you have to find different ways to win.«

But it’s not the case that Bayern will become a pure counterattacking team. They will mostly remain a ball possession team and will probably reveal themselves as such again on Wednesday in Wolfsburg. The wait-and-see attitude “doesn’t suit every opponent. We can’t stand at the back or on the halfway line against opponents who don’t love having the ball themselves,” said Müller. But depending on the situation – that was the valuable experience for the really big goals of the season – a cunning and wait-and-see variant can sometimes prove to be a successful model. If things go optimally from Bayern’s point of view, maybe even on June 1st at Wembley. In any case, many people in Tanzania believe so.