Everything is fine at FC Bayern. Things are going brilliantly under the new coach Vincent Kompany. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer also doesn’t seem to be as bad as initially feared. But could there be luxury problems soon?
At FC Bayern, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” recently wrote, the “everyone loves Vinnie” days have now arrived. The Munich club, which has had to shake itself up so often in recent years to free itself of all the ballast that weighed it down, is currently flying happily from cloud to cloud. And the world on Säbener Straße is getting a little rosier with every game. With every game, FC Bayern is falling a little more in love with its coach, who only became a candidate when all the other candidates couldn’t or wouldn’t. If the word “shockingly in love” wasn’t already reserved for Thomas Tuchel, it could be used.
But they don’t want to think back to the Tuchel days in Munich. Club patriarch Uli Hoeneß has already made that clear in several interviews. Now it is Vincent Kompany’s time and so far it has been a good time. He is helped, without any criticism, by the fact that it is flanked by a considerate match schedule. In the cup, SSV Ulm 1846 awaited him, in the Bundesliga they played against Wolfsburg, Freiburg and Kiel. None of these were the biggest calibres. Not the teams that FC Bayern see themselves as part of. And Dinamo Zagreb is not one of them either. On the first match day of the new Champions League, the Croatians were beaten in the most painful way in Munich’s Allianz Arena, going home with a 2:9 defeat.
“It was a difficult evening for us, Bayern is a different world,” said the resigned guest coach Sergei Jakirovic.”We didn’t play well in the first half, Bayern didn’t allow much. After halftime we got to 3:2 and had the chance to equalize. But we were inferior in terms of running, Bayern recognized the spaces. We were punished harshly for every mistake. It’s a lesson for us.”
Bayern is in danger of a hammer knockout.
Goals: 1:0 Kane (19th, penalty after video review), 2:0 Guerreiro (33rd), 3:0 Olise (38th), 3:1 Petkovic (49th), 3:2 Ogiwara (5th), 4:2 Kane (58th), 5:2 Olise (61st), 6:2 Kane (73rd, handball penalty after video review), 7:2 Kane (78th, penalty), 8:2 Sane (85th), 9:2 Goretzka (90th+2)
Munich: Neuer (46. Ulreich) – Guerreiro (81. Goretzka), Upamecano, Kim (68. Dier), Davies – Kimmich, Pavlovic – Olise (68. Sane), Musiala (68. Müller), Gnabry – Kane. – Trainer: Company
Zagreb: Nevistic – Ristovski, Theophile-Catherine, Mmaee – Pierre-Gabriel (73. Spikic), Rog (46. Stojkovic), Misic, Ogiwara (73. Hoxha) – Baturina (78. Ademi) – Petkovic, Pjaca (62. Kulenovic) . – Trainer: Jakirovic
Referee: Juan Martinez Munuera (Spain)
Yellow card: – Ristovski
Viewers: 75,000 (sold out)
For just a few minutes, they were on the verge of making the impossible possible. At half-time, FC Bayern were leading 3-0, but left goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the dressing room. He had hit the ground hard and from a great height early in the game. Kompany wanted to spare the keeper, but the Belgian coach does not believe he was seriously injured. He said this after the final whistle. Neuer himself said late in the night: “Nothing serious, just a minor thing.” The fall had affected his body’s stability. After that, he hit a few balls and felt something in his thigh. He spoke to Bayern’s team doctor during a break in play.
Deputy Sven Ulreich took over and suddenly it was 2:3. The Croatians didn’t know what was happening to them. And neither did Bayern. Ulreich even prevented the score from being 3:3. That would have turned everything on its head. Because the Munich team were vastly superior, the guests hadn’t got anything going. It only ever went in one direction. At top speed. With great joy and an unbridled desire. Thomas Müller, for example, praised this before the game: “We are working on the right things, and above all with the right mentality. There is no other way, everyone in the squad is challenged and that is how it seems at the moment.”
“I didn’t score the goals, they did”
After a little shock, things continued as before. Bayern pressed, Bayern pushed and scored goal after goal. “I’m happy for the boys. I didn’t score the goals, they did. Despite conceding two goals, we stayed calm, which was good,” praised Kompany. “But of course that shouldn’t happen to us. What is really important for me is that we have someone like Harry Kane who slides in his own penalty area and that we had eleven players on the field who worked back until the end.”
The acclaimed Harry Kane scored four times, three from the penalty spot. New signing Michael Olise scored two goals. In the end, Leroy Sané and, watch out, Leon Goretzka were also able to celebrate. The retired international player was actually supposed to leave the club in the summer. That was what the bosses had imagined. But Goretzka didn’t want to, he believed he could turn things around in his direction. So far, that hasn’t worked. Recently he didn’t even make it into the squad. And it might have happened again if the unlucky Sacha Boey hadn’t joined his injured colleagues Hiroki Ito and Josip Stanisic.
Things are getting tight on the wings
Now he was there and was given a few minutes. As was defender Eric Dier, also a loser of the coaching change. Goretzka used his short time from the 81st minute onwards to promote himself. His goal was very impressive, a powerful diving header. Will that be enough for more? Kompany, very diplomatic in his tracksuit, said that Goretzka was offering himself and doing well. “I don’t think Leon Goretzka is one of the losers of the first games. He is important for us, has an important role in the team and will also be important for us during the season.” More unpromising praise is hardly possible.
Sané scored immediately before Goretzka, who also wants to get back into the team after his injury. But Olise is shining there and is fighting for more and more attention and shares. The other competitors are Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman. And if in doubt, Jamal Musiala, who can play anything in the attack and is enjoying his freedom in the center for the time being.
Not Kompany football, but Bayern football
His challenger there is Thomas Müller, the new record holder in the Champions League. The in-house radio station is breaking one record after the other, but its broadcast time is dwindling more and more. But how often has this Müller been put aside too early? The 34-year-old has now played 152 games in the Champions League for FC Bayern, surpassing the record he previously held together with Xavi Hernandez from FC Barcelona. He is probably less interested in that than in playing time, of course. He has often stressed in the past that he would like to play and always do so.
Now it’s up to Vinnie to manage things. So far, they say in Munich, he’s doing it well. Very well, in fact. They are shocked to be in love. Also because of the modesty of the new man, who only became a man for FC Bayern so late. “It’s a good start. We’re not playing Kompany football, it’s Bayern football. I’m a coach and always have this positive charisma, but of course I’m never completely satisfied. We can also win everything, and I’ll keep that attitude. There are always things that can be improved.” The next stops on the flight above the clouds: Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa.