“No matter what we call it”
Only Bavaria’s “horror film” ends in a scoring frenzy
By Till Erdenberger
March 9, 2024, 7:56 p.m
FC Bayern Munich is working its way out of depression: in the Champions League they reached the quarter-finals and now things are going well again in the Bundesliga. The “horror film” that some people thought they were in is over.
It was three weeks ago that Leon Goretzka stepped in front of the microphones on a rainy evening in Bochum – and made no secret of his condition: “It feels like a horror film that doesn’t stop,” said the FC midfielder Bayern on DAZN, a few minutes after his team lost 3-2 to relegation candidate VfL Bochum. “Of course we can stand up again and say that we started the game well. That’s true, but you feel stupid limiting yourself to half an hour. It’s difficult to find an explanation.”
Goretzka had to comment on the third competitive defeat in a row. Bundesliga table leaders Bayer Leverkusen were in a hurry and were threatened with elimination from the Champions League. Now Leverkusen are still ahead, but in the Champions League they eliminated Lazio Rome with their strongest performance in weeks after the 0-1 result in the first leg (3-0).
Now they beat 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga with 8:1 (3:1). And Goretzka, the two-time goalscorer, appeared in front of the cameras again. And I didn’t want to switch into fight mode straight away after the horror film ended, even though FC Bayern is obviously enjoying playing football again after complicated weeks.
And now they sent another late declaration of war on Leverkusen? “It doesn’t matter what we call it,” Goretzka said. “It was a convincing victory.” His Bayern have often missed these this season. “That’s why we’re in the situation we are in the Bundesliga.” Namely, ten points behind the sovereign leader if the factory club wins against VfL Wolfsburg at the end of the 25th matchday. “It’s our duty to the club to do everything we can and to continue to do everything we can to win the games. If Leverkusen starts to wobble, then we have to be there. That’s our job.”
“Great to lose 1:8 here”
Three weeks after Goretzka’s “horror film” headed straight for the separation from Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season, it was a real joy: “In the end, these are the games that we love, that you want to have as a Bayern player,” said Goretzka. “We stayed in our flow today.”
Much to the chagrin of Mainz, who were fighting relegation. “It’s a great story, losing 8-1 here, it hurts a lot,” said a contrite Mainz sports director Martin Schmidt. “Why? We wanted to be brave, I think we were too brave and also overconfident at times and got beaten here against the most efficient and liberated Bayern.”
The 8-1 win wasn’t even the series champion’s biggest win of the season, but it did seal a record: on matchday 9, FC Bayern defeated newly promoted team Darmstadt 98 8-0 (all goals came in the second half). With the 7-0 win against VfL Bochum in September 2023, Goretzka and Co. scored seven or more goals in a game for the third time in a season – and thus set a new Bundesliga record.
However, it is just sheer horror that ended for FC Bayern. That’s another reason why they didn’t want to fall into the euphoria of scoring goals. Because the championship should still be gone, the cup win is already gone. And a triumph in the Champions League is still a long way away. In any case, a happy ending is not yet in sight. A conciliatory conclusion to the drama series “FC Bayern 2023/24”, which ran for barely more than a season, can at least be glimpsed again.