Thanks to a 2-1 win at Celtic Glasgow on Wednesday evening, FC Bayern took a big step towards the last sixteen of the Champions League.
“The focus was already on defense,” said Joshua Kimmich on DAZN after the win in Scotland. “We know that it’s important – especially in the Champions League – to avoid making mistakes. We’ve also learned that the hard way in recent away games. I thought we took a step forward. We’ve learned something, and we have to keep doing it,” said the 30-year-old.
Kimmich: ‘Fortunately they didn’t change it’
However, Bayern’s defensive performance was slightly flawed by conceding a goal in the final stages. After Daizen Maeda’s 2-1, from the melee following a corner, Munich hardly allowed any clear chances to be created until the end. “Generally speaking, it’s of course difficult to control every game for 95 minutes. Of course, it’s our aim. It’s important today that we defend well to the end. We did that,” Kimmich was therefore satisfied.
Bayern conceded a goal after a corner, but they had already scored one themselves from a corner – through Harry Kane in the 50th minute. ‘Harry came to me at half-time and said, ’Always hit the balls on two. I’m relatively alone there.’” In fact, the Englishman had headed the ball towards the outer net before half-time. “Fortunately, they didn’t change it, and then we scored too,” said Kimmich, pleased with the plan that had been put into action.
Despite negative record: Kimmich is looking forward to Leverkusen
Now that FCB has laid a good foundation for advancing in the Champions League, the return leg in Munich on Tuesday (9 p.m.) will be followed by the trip to Leverkusen for the Bundesliga top game, which Kimmich is looking forward to with mixed feelings: “To be honest, we’ve had a lot of problems against Leverkusen in recent games,” he said, alluding to the last five games without a win against the Werkself (two draws, three defeats, including one in the cup at the beginning of December 2024).
At least, however, Kimmich saw an improvement in the last two meetings. “We controlled it then, but didn’t really find a way to score. We have to do a lot better than that.” Nevertheless, the midfielder is looking forward to the game. ‘I think it’s going to be a cool game. I would definitely watch it as a fan.’
