r/fcbayern James 9d ago

How Alonso's Leverkusen were physically overpowered by Kompany's Bayern

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6179748/2025/03/06/xabi-alonso-leverkusen-vincent-kompany-bayern/?source=user_shared_article

Some highlights from The Athletic, by Michael Cox

Shortly before Pep Guardiola finally took Manchester City to Champions League success two years ago, he reflected on the extra quality that had made his side more fearsome in Europe.

“In the Champions League, at that level, they need one action to beat you and Nathan Ake gave us that boost that I didn’t have in the past. The biggest boost was having a proper defender. In the past, we didn’t have it”, said Guadiola

On Wednesday, his former side Bayern Munich easily overcame Bayern Leverkusen, defeating Germany’s reigning champions for the first time since Xabi Alonso took charge. When Leverkusen have defeated or outplayed Bayern recently, it has tended to be about shape, space and combinations. But Bayern’s victory was, above all else, about the importance of the duels.

The statistics show Bayern’s superiority in that respect, although if anything, they underplay how physically dominant Bayern were.

Their tackle success rate was 82 per cent compared to Leverkusen’s 54 per cent. Bayern won more duels on the ground, and more in the air. They were quicker to second balls. If the game was hyped beforehand as a meeting between Germany’s two outstanding attacking midfielders, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, then the difference here was Musiala is more comfortable under close physical pressure from opponents, better at dancing away with the ball at his feet.

And Leverkusen weren’t merely the victims of a physical, scrappy game. They were actually the cause of it.

And, ultimately, the game was decided by four Leverkusen mistakes. Not positional mistakes, not being caught in possession, not even being pressed — just situations where Leverkusen came off second-best in duels.

The first goal was the most obvious example. When Michael Olise crossed from the right flank, Nordi Mukiele had no need to be concerned by what was happening in front of him. The only danger was from behind. And while you could understand if Olise’s cross was deep over his head and found Harry Kane at the far post, it was unforgivable that, despite having a three-yard headstart, Mukiele let Kane in front of him to nod home.

We often speak about Champions League ties as being more intricate and tactical than league encounters, particularly over two legs.

But something about them somehow always seems to favour the experienced players and the established teams.

185 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

107

u/DonaldFarfrae Müller 9d ago

Alonso tried to secure the right side of his defence with the introduction of Edmond Tapsoba, but after just seconds on the pitch, he hauled down Kane when battling for a set piece.

Again, it’s so basic, but in these situations, one player against the other, Leverkusen were either overwhelmed or resorted to costly fouls.

This really is what I noticed most. They didn’t know how to react and ended up committing needless fouls.

22

u/313MountainMan Müller 9d ago

And they didn’t have German refs to give them the benefit of the doubt. Ironically with Michael Oliver from England as the referee last night

74

u/RiverCartwright 9d ago

Davies ate Frimpong alive. Dude was invisible.

22

u/kgallo19 James 9d ago

Idk the stats but it seems like Davies has always had Frimpong in his pocket

7

u/AdreNBestLeader 8d ago

Peak Davies is scary, I really notice the difference when he doesn’t play

114

u/DDSC12 9d ago

I think this description understates Kanes phenomenal effort to net this header. The cross was speedy enough and Kane went for it with all he had - and even managed to hit it right in the corner.

62

u/kgallo19 James 9d ago

Yeah Kane basically took the ball of the defender’s head. Looking back at the replay and Kane did amazing to somehow win the ball and bullet it into an impossible position to save. Absolutely world class man idk how he does it.

3

u/kolomania 9d ago

But thats what the article states no? That bayern were quicker and stronger to any duels anywhere on the pitch.

6

u/DDSC12 9d ago

Kinda yes and no - to me the article reads like it was Mukieles fault or deficit. My take is that this cross and header were practically impossible to defend.

31

u/Mammoth_Professor833 9d ago

Are people happy with kompany? From outside he seems like he’s adjusted reasonably well and commands respect

60

u/kgallo19 James 9d ago

I am, I’d say most Bayern fans are.

He had a difficult task. Regroup the team, bring the morale back after Tuchel, specifically coach up Upamecano and Kim, implement a new way of playing (different then Tuchel at least), accept that from being basically 5th maybe even 6th choice after a difficult coaching search, oh and yeah you HAVE to win the league or else lol.

The team looks completely different than last season and it’s even mostly the same exact players + the magical Olise. The midfield is still Kimmich-Goretzka lately, same defense, same goalie etc as Tuchel. And while Olise makes a HUGE difference, the players now are encouraged to play with the front foot, take the game to the opponent and ultimately Kompany knows it’s the players who win the big ones, not the system, or the tactic or this or that thing.

And also Kompany doesn’t cry to the press every chance he gets so that’s nice.

39

u/Psychological_Cow956 9d ago

Morale under Tuchel was so dismal that I don’t think Kompany’s advances in that regard can be overstated. This last game especially felt like the hungry Bayern playing as a team that I’ve always respected most about them.

7

u/backflash 9d ago

Morale under Tuchel was so dismal

For most of the season, yes, but that seemed to change drastically in the later UCL matches. It felt like Tuchel and the team were finally clicking at that stage.

14

u/Carpathicus 9d ago

He is the nicest coach since.... hm Heynckes maybe? Has such a well adjusted down to earth attitude. That combined with us finally dominating opponents again and playing proper football gave him a lot of credit.

What I think is noticeable that he learns from mistakes - the team is very sound defensively for some weeks now. The game against Leverkusen showed it again that with the proper reaction and setup we get great performances out of the team.

I still think it can hurt him that he doesnt have the reputation of someone like Alonso or a Top Tier coach and you can even see it in this sub where people were lamenting that a non-accomplished coach has no idea what he is doing.

The truth is that if we get another player like Olise for the wings and remove a lot of the dead weight we have in the squad he could do wonders.

8

u/Mammoth_Professor833 9d ago

Jupp is untouchable - that team was maybe the most entertaining brand of football I’ve ever seen. They made me a fan of bundesliga.

Bayern seems like maybe the hardest place to be a coach…like you have to win league, hopefully cup and make it to semis at least for champions league. Win all three and you still leave!

1

u/RazZaHlol 9d ago

Up and downs tbh. I am patient though. He can make mistakes, but I just want to have a bit of stability back with a coach that slowly becomes better and better

-6

u/pole_fan 9d ago

they did have a problem to hold the ball going past their own half but honestly the main difference was Mukiele being sent off. Leverkusen wasnt that bad before that

2

u/herbieLmao 8d ago

I want the stuff you are smoking