Bayern Munich feel the heat on two counts as PSG loom after Union blow | Andy Brassell

Hansi Flick’s biggest expression of frustration on Saturday afternoon was saved for five minutes from the end of normal time, when a dogged Union Berlin pilfered a hardly inevitable but not exactly undeserved equaliser at the home of the champions, as Marcus Ingvartsen’s scuffed effort rolled over the line. In tandem with RB Leipzig’s easy 4-1 win at Werder Bremen, it trimmed Bayern Munich’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to five points – an inconvenience rather than a crisis – but the keenest suggestion from hearing Flick shout “Mann!” across the turf was less the effect of the goal itself, and more that the coach had been holding it all in over the previous two hours.

The pressure had been building as the minutes ticked away – coming not from Union, or even really from the game itself, but from Bayern’s evolving situation, a rarely experienced, nagging doubt that had arguably begun before last Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg with Paris Saint-Germain and continued to fester during and after the event. The reverse in the rerun of last year’s final was one thing and despite the three away goals conceded, L’Equipe’s morning-after underlining that 95% of teams to have won 3-2 away in the first leg of a European tie since 1970 had gone on to progress had rarely seemed less relevant.

This is not just Bayern but Flick’s Bayern, a particular Bayern built not just on will and self-assurance but upon daring and a deep well or invention. On other knockout occasions producing the same or similar, commentators and analysts would have said not to rule out the vanquished as a tension-building, almost contractual obligation. We know what this Bayern side are made of. Yet as absentees mount up, the stress levels are really rising due to the growing sense of internal conflict at Säbener Strasse.

Flick spoke in the wake of the Union draw of the importance “that we regather our strength, switch off and clear our heads.” It felt like a call for calm after his Friday press conference which had made for fraught viewing, as with shades of the beginning of the end for Thomas Tuchel at PSG Flick ventured that: “Last year we had a team that – and everyone knows this and everyone will agree with me – was qualitatively better than the team this year,” before making it clear that he was shutting down any queries over his future, and the Germany job. Outside the floor in the press conference, naturally, the big question won’t go away. Kicker’s traditional Sunday morning poll of the week posed the question of who is more important for Bayern – Flick or sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic?

“Outwardly and inwardly,” wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Christof Kneer this week, “the club does not speak with one voice” and, of course, it never has. This is the price for traditionally having the strongest upstairs structure of any club in the European game. Yet while Bayern’s coach might often be a pawn in a power struggle, he is rarely a participant. While the differences between Tuchel’s differences with Leonardo at PSG and Flick’s with Salihamidzic are clear, with Flick openly identifying himself as part of Bayern’s bumps in the road on Friday and very deliberately stating that he still has “a great team” at his disposal, the friction is clear.

Hansi Flick with Thomas Müller after Bayern Munich’s draw with Union Berlin.
Hansi Flick with Thomas Müller after Bayern Munich’s draw with Union Berlin. Photograph: Andreas Gebert/Reuters

Every time Jérôme Boateng, a Flick favourite invited to find himself a new employer at the season’s end by Salihamidzic, appears it comes to mind. Even Tiago Dantas, the diminutive Portuguese midfielder who performed creditably against Union on his first start, is a minor symbol of the conflict; brought on loan from Benfica at Flick’s behest and unlikely to have the permanent option on his services taken up, yet blooded into the first team by the coach after Bayern had already indicated to the Portuguese giants that would be the case.

Dantas’s inclusion was not political with Flick down to the bare bones, recalling the personnel difficulties that stymied Bayern’s efforts towards a comeback in 2015’s semi-final with Barcelona. The much-changed team to face Union contained two debutants in the XI (Dantas and Josip Stanisic) and another three on the bench without a first-team minute to their name before Saturday. The minute the fist-bumps between Flick and his opposite number Urs Fischer and their support staff were affected on the final whistle, the Bayern coach’s thoughts switched to Tuesday, publicly. Privately, they were already there.

There is much to ponder. Robert Lewandowski’s hope of a near-miraculous comeback for the second leg seems destined to end in disappointment, so the withdrawal of Kingsley Coman against Union (precautionary, according to Flick) and the absence of Leon Goretzka – not a direct replacement for the prolific Pole by any means, but a substantial target for his partner-in-crime Joshua Kimmich’s favourite diagonal ball from infield – with muscle tightness are major issues. The Goretzka-Kimmich partnership is at the heart of the best Bayern, and any curbing of this would be a sharp brake on the team’s ability to build momentum on Tuesday, and a huge boost to PSG. With Serge Gnabry having pulled out on the eve of the first game after a positive Covid-19 test and still quarantining for the return, Bayern have little room for manoeuvre.

In an era when few care to consider the influence of luck in Europe’s premier knockout competition Bayern will need an overdue helping of it but firstly, they will need to recover their sangfroid. Yet just like in 2015, if Bayern are to go down, they will do so with their boots on.

Quick Guide

Bundesliga results

Show

Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 Freibury; Bayern Munich 1-1 Union Berlin; Cologne 2-3 Mainz; Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 Wolfsburg; Hertha Berlin 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach; Schalke 1-0 Augsburg; Stuttgart 2-3 Borussia Dortmund; Werder Bremen 1-4 RB Leipzig

Monday Hoffenheim v Bayer Leverkusen (7.30pm BST)

Talking points

Patching up the walking wounded is the theme for Borussia Dortmund too ahead of their Champions League return with Manchester City, with Edin Terzic confident that Mats Hummels and Marco Reus will make it despite coming off in the 3-2 win at Stuttgart. It was more erratic fare from Dortmund but Reus’s replacement Ansgar Knauff, a surprise starter in Manchester, hit a late winner to keep his side’s slim top four hopes alive. “I wanted to do my best,” Knauff told Sky. “I’m just happy that it worked out.” His strike, along with Jude Bellingham’s first Bundesliga goal, means BVB have had five goalscorers under the age of 20 this season.

Jude Bellingham cheekily celebrates Marco Reus’s goal against Stuttgart – the 17-year-old had earlier scored for the first time in the Bundesliga.
Jude Bellingham cheekily celebrates Marco Reus’s goal against Stuttgart – the 17-year-old had earlier scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Eintracht Frankfurt still hold the aces after their dramatic win in Dortmund last week, following up by edging one of the games of the season, a 4-3 win over third-placed Wolfsburg. It was “exhausting”, as Erik Durm put it after his goal turned out to be the clincher, taking Adi Hütter’s side just a point behind their opponents. Wolfsburg’s defeat also meant Leipzig extended their cushion in second place to six points, with Alexander Sørloth scoring two of their goals in Bremen.

Cologne are in the bottom two after a late defeat to Mainz, with Leandro Barreiro’s last-gasp goal flattening the home side after they frittered a lead – and signalling the end for Markus Gisdol, with the coach put out of his misery shortly after full time. He will be replaced, as expected, by the hugely experienced Friedhelm Funkel.

source: theguardian.com