Fbright light, full stadium, loud fans, football atmosphere – that was what encouraged FC Bayern. But in the pandemic, the German record champions not only seem to have gotten used to it, but these emotional conditions, which are now unfamiliar, are apparently even having an inhibiting effect. That was the case in the cup in Mönchengladbach and also in the Bundesliga at FC Augsburg. And now it almost went wrong in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League at RB Salzburg in front of 30,000 spectators. With his late goal to make it 1-1, Kingsley Coman at least saved Munich from the next embarrassment and from having to fight with their backs to the wall in the second leg in three weeks to get through to the next round.
For the first time in two years, Bayern played to a full arena on Wednesday and for the first time since last season’s quarter-final loss to Paris St. Germain they did not finish a premier league game as a winner. “Of course we have planned much more. But it’s okay,” said Joshua Kimmich. “It just wasn’t enough in the first half. We did better in the second half and played a little harder.”
Because for the Bavarians in Salzburg it was also about restoring internal peace. After the 4-2 defeat in Bochum, things got turbulent. It was about defensive behavior and attitude. And in the environment, Uli Hoeneß and Oliver Kahn worked on the recently proposed playoff round. And there was also the question of how the team would react.
Déjà vu experience for FC Bayern
Bochum’s embarrassment was supposed to be a slip, like the cup defeat against Mönchengladbach at the end of October. The people of Munich started boldly, also passionately, but so did Salzburg. The fact that the team of young coach Matthias Jaissle was considered a blatant outsider in a duel with the 2020 Champions League winner did not change the tactical orientation. She played as Nagelsmann had expected: “It would speak against her DNA if they were to curl up behind,” the Bayern coach said before the game.
Salzburg, who are the first Austrian team to reach a round of 16 in the Champions League, showed no fear of the German record champions. And the people of Munich may have felt a little reminded of their only Champions League appearance in Salzburg in this fast-paced but also hectic initial phase. In the preliminary round of last season, the Austrians had shown themselves to be rebellious opponents for a long time. RB Salzburg, trained at the time by Jesse Marsch, who has since been released in Leipzig, had taken the lead and even equalized after the Bavarians had made an intermediate sprint before Bayern pulled away and won 6-2.
A former Bayern player then initiated what became a déjà vu experience for the Munich team. Karim Adayemi crossed the ball from the right into the center after a counterattack that Bayern allowed far too often. There, with a bit of luck, the ball reached Chikwubuike Adamu, who had a clear shot and scored from 15 meters to make it 1-0 (21st). The Salzburg goalscorer had come on for the injured Noah Okafor just a few minutes earlier. But unlike 15 months ago, this time there was not a quick answer from Munich. On the contrary: Sven Ulreich saved a shot from Brenden Aaronson shortly after the goal and saved his team from going further behind.
Although Nagelsmann returned to the more tried-and-tested system of three central defenders and Corentin Tolisso as an additional defensive midfielder, the protection only worked moderately. There were also a lot of bad passes – and the offensive spectacle was largely absent in the first half. There were only two good chances by Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané before the break.
Bayern defended themselves against the threat of defeat, but their game seemed unsteady, the structure was not thought through enough and the right punch in the penalty area was missing for a long time with a few good chances from Coman, Sané and Thomas Müller. However, Robert Lewandowski was hardly ever in a position to show why he had been voted World Player of the Year again. So it wasn’t the Pole, but Coman, who saved Bayern in the 90th minute and, thanks to the slightly better second half, scored the deserved 1-1.