Bayern’s latest elite utility man is increasingly outgrowing one of the more imposing club shadows of recent timesAfter months of cliche and assumption, they’re finally getting their due credit. It may not have quite been Bayern Munich at their best, remarkably, but Friday’s 8-2 win over Barcelona was all about context, the seismic impact of the result and the stage forcing the world to recognise that they are not just the habitual Bundesliga behemoth.Even Borussia Dortmund’s chief executive, Hans-Joachim Watzke, talking at the press conference to present the club’s annual financial results, was forced to refer to the current crop as “the best team ever to play for Bayern”. If Philippe Coutinho’s strangely inevitable cameo was the door hitting Barça...
The humiliation by Bayern was a capitulation of a major side on a level not seen since the World Cup semi-final in 2014Barcelona cannot say they were not warned. Since 2017, their exits from the Champions League have been becoming increasingly embarrassing. Humiliation has followed humiliation. Perhaps finally now, after their 8-2 humbling against Bayern, their worst defeat since 1946, a performance that became shameful in its ineptitude, action will be taken.Occasionally matches take place that are the meeting of two historical trends. Here, on the one hand, there was the tactical dominance of Germany, the high line and the hard press, the slick muscularity, the rapid exchanges of a well-structured attack, that have become increasingly familiar at the highest...
Hansi Flick’s arrival sparked a spectacular and decisive upturn as Bayern Munich made it eight Bundesliga titles in a rowIt ended not with arrogance or effortlessness, but with spirit and defiance. After Manuel Neuer pulled off the last-gasp save from Yuya Osako to prevent Werder Bremen making Bayern Munich wait to be confirmed as champions, the goalkeeper chest-bumped with David Alaba. There was little hint of assumption, give or take the prepared T-shirts with the figure 8 on the chest.In the all-but-empty stands, Bayern’s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and president Herbert Hainer briefly ditched the three-seat social distancing protocol to hug in celebration. “Celebrating without fans is difficult,” Robert Lewandowski told Sky after striking the winning goal that sealed an eighth...
Tuesday’s match will be played in strange circumstances but a home win would fire up title race and keep the world watchingEver since the Bundesliga’s fixture list was released way back in July last year, the timing has looked delicious. For neutrals, the pair of fixtures that tend to leap out of the calendar are the confrontations between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Fans have practically been able to set their watch on the arrival of the return fixture, placed within the span of a week in early April for five of the last seven seasons.In 2019-20, the return had a twist. For the first time since 2016, the second match would be played in Dortmund, more significant than it...
Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Juve and others have become short-termist as domestic success has bred complacencyJust wait for the knockout phase of the Champions League. That’s when the season really gets going, that’s when the real football begins. That’s when you get the festival that justifies the tedium of the group stage, the greatest football ever played, the glorious pay-off for the grotesque iniquities of the game’s financial structure.Ah. Related: Pep Guardiola expects 'incredibly aggressive' Manchester United in derby Atalanta’s story is romantic but this is the first season in which the last 16 all come from the richest five leagues Continue reading...