Champions League: “The current team is unrecognizable”, Bayern are no better than PSG

by time news

It is not only at PSG that the machine is struggling to revive after the World Cup. A fortnight before their arrival at the Parc des Princes, Bayern Munich have not been going well since their resumption in the Bundesliga this month: three 1-1 draws in three games, the latest in their den against Eintracht Frankfurt Saturday night – Randal Kolo Muani responding to a goal from Leroy Sané.

Consequence: the Bavarian club is treading water in the league, and although still leader, sees the competition coming back on its heels in the standings: Union Berlin, 2nd at one point, RB Leipzig, 3rd at 2 points, as well as Dortmund, 4th, and Freiburg, 5th, 3 points away.

A beautiful mess like in Paris, in terms of the game as well as the results, knowing that Julian Nagelsmann’s team totaled six points ahead of the 2nd at the break, thanks to six consecutive victories.

“Obviously, we would have liked to win the first three games of the year, but the Bundesliga is not a wish list, quipped Thomas Müller who found a starting place, after the draw conceded in front of Frankfurt at the ‘Allianz Arena on Saturday. Our lead has completely melted…”

In the wake of Müller, the president of Bayern, Oliver Kahn, expressed his disapproval: “We have just experienced our third draw in a row, it is not at all satisfactory, he launched. I have the feeling that we have two teams: one very successful before the World Cup and the current one which is unrecognizable. We’ve had this kind of period before at the end of the summer, with four rounds without a win, but what worries me this time is that if we created a lot of chances in this period, this is no longer the case today…”

Regarding the offensive sector, Kahn notably castigated the insufficient performance of Serge Gnabry, who entered Saturday in the 70th to replace Sané, scorer against Frankfurt. Aggravating circumstance, Gnabry had made a round trip to Paris the previous weekend, but just to make a jump to Fashion Week… ”

“Players can do whatever they want in their free time, but when we’ve been eliminated from the World Cup so quickly and we’ve just had more than a month’s vacation, I expect something else from from a player like Serge, said the former Mannschaft goalkeeper. What he did is unprofessional. »

Deprived of its Manuel Neuer bulwark (season ended following a skiing accident), Bayern’s defense is no more at the party, with a goal conceded in each match. The (first) tenure of the young Croatian Josip Stanisic, 22, in place of Benjamin Pavard, right side, did not change anything on Saturday. The Bavarian club should finalize the loan with option to buy Portuguese side Joao Cancelo, 28, from Manchester City, according to The Athletic website.

A bit like the French champion, four games between now and the Champions League meeting, Bayern will have three games between now and the eighth leg of Tuesday February 14: Mainz in the German Cup on Wednesday (1/ 8th), Wolfsburg on Sunday, then Bochum in the league on Saturday February 11. Or three games to revive or sink further. But if necessary, the club six times winner of the Champions League does not rule out using the double confrontation with PSG as a springboard. “It’s exactly the type of games our team needs,” Kahn said. It is against this kind of big clubs that it must measure up to transcend itself. »

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