In the end, Pep Guardiola would probably not have any regrets about this match. His team was not at its customary best when it came to the form guide. The star centre-forward Lewandowski was included in the line-up in spite of his broken nose and fractured jaw, and Robben and Ribery were both missing in action.
Strange Pep move
Guardiola had made it abundantly clear before the match that Leo Messi was virtually unstoppable. And he threw caution to the wind during the first 15 minutes, when Xabi Alonso played in front of a back three in what was a seriously ambitious move to take on Barca’s rampaging MSN trio. Before Bayern could settle their nerves and pass a few balls among themselves, they found themselves very badly stretched at the back and as vast spaces opened up suddenly.
Barca’s famed frontline trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar Jr, couldn’t believe their luck. As football fans on Twitter went apoplectic about this suicidal move, Suarez missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, while Neymar and Alves squandered opportunities as well. That Bayern did not concede at least two goals in this period was due to some world-class goaltending by Manuel Neuer, who somehow kept the ball out of goal using his positional sense and amazing reflexes.
Bayern restore their formation
To give credit to Pep, he quickly realised his mistake and reverted to a traditional back four, but the damage had already been done. Bayern was always playing catch up from here on. A masked Lewandowski came closest to scoring for Bayern when he failed to latch onto a Muller pass inside the box after a tidy piece of passing.
The other German goalkeeper in the match, Ter Stegen, was rarely troubled, which speaks volumes of the amount of pressure Bayern were soaking up just to keep MSN at bay. With Alba and Alves using the flanks beautifully and Messi constantly changing his position, it took Bayern all its energy to ensure to keep the scoresheet clean in the first half.
Second half: same story
The second half was no different – though Bayern was far more efficient in their defensive make-up for the first part. But from an attack perspective, they sorely missed Robben and Ribery, for they could rarely break into the Barca penalty box. This left Muller and Lewandowski wallowing like large destroyers in a big nautical storm – all alone and extremely uneasy.
Xavi Alonso, Thiago and Schweinsteiger were quite insipid through the night, and Lahm was largely ineffective, which was surprising given his vast experience. But MSN were still being kept at bay – and Pep might have been thinking of escaping with a draw at least!
Messi defies the laws
But, then over a period of three or four minutes, Messi did his magic and changed the course of the game. He opened the scoring 13 minutes from time with a lovely low shot into the bottom corner. Three minutes later he finished off the game with the move of the evening. It started with a brilliant run and a dink past a hapless Boateng before a gentle chip took care of Neuer, who could only watch the ball sail into the back of the net.
This was hardly Messi’s greatest performance and the great man was carefully marked by Bayern for long periods – but like all true greats, he used his superior skills to open up the defence when the opportunity arose and made no mistakes in converting two effective chances. By the time Neymar ran through the field to slot home the third goal past Neuer deep into injury time, Bayern had put everyone forward in the hope of an away goal, and the match was all but over.
Second leg
A 3-0 defeat to this Barca team for most people would be the end of the Champions League story. But it would be wrong to imagine Guardiola is ready to give everything up yet. Come next week at the Allianz Arena, he will definitely have some other new trick up his sleeve. Whether that will be good enough to coax what needs to be the best performance of the season from this Bayern outfit is something only time will tell.
After all, if anyone can work a way around Barca, it’s Pep. Whether his team can raise themselves and follow his lead is the key question.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves!
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
Strange Pep move
Guardiola had made it abundantly clear before the match that Leo Messi was virtually unstoppable. And he threw caution to the wind during the first 15 minutes, when Xabi Alonso played in front of a back three in what was a seriously ambitious move to take on Barca’s rampaging MSN trio. Before Bayern could settle their nerves and pass a few balls among themselves, they found themselves very badly stretched at the back and as vast spaces opened up suddenly.
Barca’s famed frontline trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar Jr, couldn’t believe their luck. As football fans on Twitter went apoplectic about this suicidal move, Suarez missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, while Neymar and Alves squandered opportunities as well. That Bayern did not concede at least two goals in this period was due to some world-class goaltending by Manuel Neuer, who somehow kept the ball out of goal using his positional sense and amazing reflexes.
Bayern restore their formation
To give credit to Pep, he quickly realised his mistake and reverted to a traditional back four, but the damage had already been done. Bayern was always playing catch up from here on. A masked Lewandowski came closest to scoring for Bayern when he failed to latch onto a Muller pass inside the box after a tidy piece of passing.
The other German goalkeeper in the match, Ter Stegen, was rarely troubled, which speaks volumes of the amount of pressure Bayern were soaking up just to keep MSN at bay. With Alba and Alves using the flanks beautifully and Messi constantly changing his position, it took Bayern all its energy to ensure to keep the scoresheet clean in the first half.
Second half: same story
The second half was no different – though Bayern was far more efficient in their defensive make-up for the first part. But from an attack perspective, they sorely missed Robben and Ribery, for they could rarely break into the Barca penalty box. This left Muller and Lewandowski wallowing like large destroyers in a big nautical storm – all alone and extremely uneasy.
Xavi Alonso, Thiago and Schweinsteiger were quite insipid through the night, and Lahm was largely ineffective, which was surprising given his vast experience. But MSN were still being kept at bay – and Pep might have been thinking of escaping with a draw at least!
Messi defies the laws
But, then over a period of three or four minutes, Messi did his magic and changed the course of the game. He opened the scoring 13 minutes from time with a lovely low shot into the bottom corner. Three minutes later he finished off the game with the move of the evening. It started with a brilliant run and a dink past a hapless Boateng before a gentle chip took care of Neuer, who could only watch the ball sail into the back of the net.
This was hardly Messi’s greatest performance and the great man was carefully marked by Bayern for long periods – but like all true greats, he used his superior skills to open up the defence when the opportunity arose and made no mistakes in converting two effective chances. By the time Neymar ran through the field to slot home the third goal past Neuer deep into injury time, Bayern had put everyone forward in the hope of an away goal, and the match was all but over.
Second leg
A 3-0 defeat to this Barca team for most people would be the end of the Champions League story. But it would be wrong to imagine Guardiola is ready to give everything up yet. Come next week at the Allianz Arena, he will definitely have some other new trick up his sleeve. Whether that will be good enough to coax what needs to be the best performance of the season from this Bayern outfit is something only time will tell.
After all, if anyone can work a way around Barca, it’s Pep. Whether his team can raise themselves and follow his lead is the key question.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves!