For the German champions, the cracks have been on show all season. And against a defensively inspired Villarreal, there was no paper left to cover them with
Tuesday, 12 April 2022, UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg: FC Bayern Munich 1-1 Villarreal CF (1-2 agg.)
There is no reason to call for Julian Nagelsmann’s head.
Not only was he the youngest ever Bundesliga manager, he was also just 33 years of age when he took over at the Allianz. A youthful man with a style of football to match, his very appointment was audacious. True, he was a supporter of Die Roten as a child, and when Hans-Dieter Flick finally took up the Germany job that he desired for a good part of a decade, he really seemed the natural successor.
He inherited the squad that saw Bayern win the Champions League in 2020, and eliminated in cruel fashion against Paris Saint-Germain the following season. He brought Dayot Upamecano with him from RB Leipzig, taking command of a squad that contained a plethora of talent, who need no introduction: Robert Lewandowski, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry – in fact, every member of the starting XI has a case for being mentioned in a post colon dramatic list. When this group were presented with a test of creativity and patience on Tuesday night, it faltered.
Unai Emery knows how to win a European football match, and that does not need saying either. Having won the Europa League in 2021 under his stewardship, earning themselves a place in this year’s premier European competition, the Yellow Submarine finished second in a group with Manchester United, putting themselves on the ‘hard side’ of the draw. Well, they responded to that by dumping out Juventus 4-1 on aggregate, and now pulling off a remarkable victory over two legs, surviving the Bayern onslaught in Germany to earn themselves a semi-final against Liverpool or Benfica.
In truth, though, ‘onslaught’ may be generous. Bayern managed 23 shots – and four were on target. Of those, just one found the back of the net, thanks to Robert Lewandowski – who, with the exception of that goal – was largely isolated across 180 minutes of football.
The majority of the media were not concerned when Villarreal defeated Bayern 1-0 in the first leg last week – but the reactions of some Bayern fans on Twitter spoke volumes. Though they were in the minority, there were those who commented something along the lines of ‘let’s not assume that we have won at the Allianz already – have you seen how we played against Augsburg?’
That refers to Bayern’s defeat of, unsurprisingly, Augsburg on Saturday. There were a few rotations with Tuesday night in mind, but the attacking core remained the same, set up in a 4-2-3-1. In a Bundesliga game where the bookmakers offered miserly odds for a home win by three, even four goals, they needed an 80th minute penalty from Lewandowski to secure the points.
It was the same formation as last Wednesday, as Joshua Kimmich and Jamal Musiala anchored the midfield in the first leg. Leon Goretzka, still easing his way back in from injury, started in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Kimmich and Goretzka looked the natural pair for a pivot in the return leg.
Nagelsmann, however, opted for a 3-4-3. Sane and Kingsley Coman operated as the wingbacks, while Thomas Müller and Musiala operated ‘off’ Lewandowski. Bayern were, unfortunately for them, able to create a number of chances, but only one was meaningful. Lewandowski’s goal was the result of a rare switch-off from Villarreal. In terms of big opportunities created solely by Bayern? Just one.
The Bavarians suffered a shock 5-0 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach in the DFB-Pokal in October, dumping them out in the second round. Just an anomaly, a freak result, it seemed, but further fixtures through the season reveal that it wasn’t. They haven’t taken a thrashing like that, indeed. But their victories since weren’t as dominant as the squad should be providing. Draws came into play. They even lost a few times. Nonetheless, they had the knack to score when it mattered, and that reflected in the Bundesliga table.
Yet those losses, draws and scrappy wins had a dark undertone. One of a lack of confidence, from the players in themselves, and in their tactics. One that didn’t reek of arrogance, the arrogance that allowed them to crush all their opposition on the way to the 2020 Champions League. Bayern Munich have looked laboured all season, and eventually they hit a wall, on Europe’s biggest stage, with no more “it’ll be alright on the night” left to save them.
Nagelsmann is still extremely young, and will have discovered on Tuesday night that the learning curve that comes with being Bayern boss is indeed a steep one – no amount of world-class players or points gap over their Bundesliga rivals will change that. In the last months, he has failed to galvanise his attackers, and talk of dressing room frustration at strategy has arisen in the press. With time, the issues will be resolved, and sacking him would be a backwards move. Yet an tactically astute ‘student’ of the game should have known better – the Champions League is no place to experiment, regardless of whether or not you’re chasing a game.
In-game management also showed signs of inexperience, bordering on naivety. Crosses were tried ad nauseam, to no avail. The wing-backs (who are natural wingers) found themselves often found themselves without meaningful options, despite the fact that there were five on-paper attackers on the pitch. And when Villarreal entered the second phase of their game-plan, to bring on a speedy winger and hit them on the break, the substitutions in reply backfired. There were signs of Nagelsmann’s youthful exuberance in the play, but more of a team that need direction.
Perhaps the shake-up starts here. Bayern fans will be hoping so. For now, the time for everyone at the club has officially arrived – to face that their elimination had been coming, and was not just another ‘blip’. The world of football knows, on the flip side, what a refreshed, newly coordinated Bayern team can do.
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