Bayern Munich must move on. But just a few days ago, the German club had hopes of overthrowing PSG at home and qualifying for the Champions League final. But the plan of Vincent Kompany and the Bavarians fell through. The fault is Luis Enrique and his staff who implemented a diabolical strategy, followed to the letter by the players. Trailing very quickly 1-0 after Ousmane Dembélé’s opener, the Germans finally grabbed a draw at the end of the match thanks to Harry Kane (1-1). Eliminated from the Champions League, the Rekordmeister promised to learn from his lessons and come back even stronger. Manuel Neuer spoke about it in particular after the match.
“We didn’t have any clear chances today (Wednesday), but we still created enough to score. We lacked the killer instinct that PSG showed to win the match. We were close to the final, but we didn’t manage to take that last step. Our goal simply came too late. We missed key moments tonight.” Vincent Kompany added: “I know how difficult it is to win the Champions League and how much it depends on the details. We will do everything to do better next season. And I also hope that we will have some of these arbitration decisions in our favor. If the refereeing was not to Bayern Munich’s taste on Wednesday, the club believes that this is not the reason for their failure. At least the only one.
Bayern Munich did not have enough solutions
On the other side of the Rhine, we talk about the depth of the bench and the lack of solutions for Kompany, who did not manage to change his plan on Wednesday when his team was trailing. An argument first put forward by Bildwho indicated that the German team had to make adjustments to its squad to move forward in C1. An opinion shared Sports 1.“While PSG was able to bring in fresh players on Wednesday evening, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany was practically powerless (…) The coach then made several changes. If Alphonso Davies did indeed breathe some dynamism into the team, the expected impact of Min-jae Kim, Lennart Karl and Nicolas Jackson did not materialize. Is the Munich squad ultimately too small?
Sports 1 continues: “the fact is that Kompany was able to compensate for each absence throughout the season, and the drop in quality was minimal. His team dominated their opponents in both the Champions League and the Bundesliga. But the fact is that they did not succeed against Paris. First, the quality of PSG on the pitch destroyed any attempt at a comeback, and secondly, the visitors still had top-notch fresh players.” An argument that is understandable, yet a few days before the match many German media assured that Bayern would physically dominate a PSG team which seemed to draw in the first leg. Editor-in-chief of Sports 1Stefan Kumberger spoke about this subject.
The transfer window will allow us to find the missing piece of the puzzle
“Paris could have brought Barcola into play at some point. As for Bayern, it was Lennart Karl. I don’t blame him; after all, he’s only 18 and was injured. When you have a full squad, with the exception of Serge Gnabry, and you can’t bring in anyone capable of reversing the situation, that means something. No player on the bench was capable of turning the match around. Of course, this raises the question of squad size. The squad is sufficient to have a very good season like the one we are currently experiencing. But for matches like the one against Paris, the bench is simply too sparse. An opinion shared by Christian Falk and Julian Agardi who discussed “lack of depth” of the group on SportBild.
Which was not necessarily Max Eberl’s opinion. During the season, the sporting director defended himself against those who accused Bayern of having too small a squad. However, the German sports press announces that the Munich residents will go on the offensive this summer. Bild spoke yesterday of reinforcements in defense, in the center and at the full-back position, as well as an offensive recruit. Anthony Gordon (Newcastle) is the priority. The track leading to Bradley Barcola (PSG) is also mentioned. What is certain is that the club will move according to Sports1. “The upcoming summer transfer window will probably be at the heart of discussions at Monday’s supervisory board meeting. The club management could then reconsider its position and ultimately conclude that additional investment in the squad is necessary. The elimination against PSG will serve as a lesson to Bayern Munich, who are trying to find out why they were eliminated. Maybe just because this PSG was too strong…
