Bayern Munich faced a bit of a reality hit when faced against its Belgian opposition on Wednesday night. After breezing past Bundesliga opponent each week, the visitors put up an extremely tough side to break down. Despite their best efforts, Vincent Kompany’s second-half adjustments once again were enough to find a win at the Allianz Arena.
Jersey Swap — Promise David
This award might be one of Canadian bias. The striker has been terrific in the Belgian league this year, as the joint top goalscorer, and currently holds the highest Goals/90 rate. However, he was not able to showcase all his talents in Munich.
Union Saint-Gilloise went with a tactical plan that did not favor the attack. It was clear David was going to have to do something special in order to beat Bayern, and that never came. After Bayern scored the quick two goals, we did not see much from the attack again, but the Canadian forward will certain be one to keep an eye on in the future.
Der Kaiser — Jonathan Tah
The Bayer Leverkusen alumni provided much needed stability at the back in this match. Tah was surrounded by some of the weaker options in defense but was able to still help the team record a clean sheet, even when his central partner was sent off.
Needless to say, the experiment thus far with Tom Bischof at fullback has not been ideal. It feels as though Bischof has so much to offer this team, but it simply is not being extracted at the moment. There doesn’t seem to be room for the Hoffenheim talent to fit in the attack or midfield, and it is a crying shame. Later in the game once Bischof got more involved in the attack due to some personnel changes from the red card, Bischof looked great. Although, it is hard to argue that he should start when Olise, Musiala, and Diaz exist.
Der Fussballgott — Joshua Kimmich
The German veteran’s performance was two different tales. On one hand, Kimmich was a brilliant passer, great tackler, and overall led the midfield — he arguably could have been the man of the match.
On the other hand, there is a growing feeling as though Kimmich makes more mistakes than in previous years. Kimmich blundered some passes which should be quite simple. One gets the feeling that Kimmich will never cost Bayern the game, but might not be changing it as much as he has in the past. One case in recent memory would be the match against Spain, where he gave Dani Olmo far too much time and space to operate near Germany’s box and it cost Germany the tournament.
It seems like a growing number of people in the fanbase have turned against the longstanding Bayern player, but his ability to move the ball in the opposing half, namely crosses and long balls, is still exceptional. Apart from his mistakes, he might have had some of the best actions of the match as well.
Der Bomber — Harry Kane
In recent months, Harry Kane has been the focal point of offense but Bayern’s attack has so many options that it is rare that Kane gets all the praise. Despite a slow first half for the Englishman, he proved himself in the second showing his goal scoring ability.
The two goals don’t necessarily indicate a man of the match performance, but it is hard to argue against the case he presented. His goals made all the difference, regardless of the fact he missed a penalty shot.
Meister of the Match — Aleksander Pavlović
The German midfielder is once again showing just how valuable he is to this squad. Often overlooked when playing beside Kimmich, Aleksander was the difference maker in the midfield today.
His passing is truly among the world’s best and the academy product was simply brilliant today, especially in the opposition’s half. Hopefully, Julian Nagelsmann has big plans for the midfielder in his squad come summertime.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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