Joshua Kimmich (26) pulled the strings in midfield during Bayern’s clear victory in Berlin. Can he stay there now too?
It was noticeable during the 90 minutes at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium that, unlike often, Thomas Müller wasn’t the only one giving out loud commands. “We heard each other,” praised the scorer of the 2:0.
Among others, Joshua Kimmich, who was allowed to play in his favoured position in central midfield for the first time after his Corona infection, celebrated his “real” comeback there. “Go on, Thomas, go on, go on, go on,” he yelled in the direction of his national team colleague, but otherwise set most of the accents with the ball at his feet.
Kimmich delighted with 90 minutes of control
With 154 ball actions, 125 passes (rate: 91 per cent) and two direct assists on goal, Kimmich was the boss in Bayern’s midfield again after more than two months. “It’s really fun to be back on the pitch,” the 26-year-old said happily on “DAZN” after the 4-1 win. “It was fun for 90 minutes because we controlled it for 90 minutes as well. “
Kimmich was the driving force behind Bayern’s intensified counter-pressing approach, which saw overstretched and nervous Berlin commit numerous ball losses around their own penalty area. “We wanted to focus our attention on that,” Kimmich explained, “generally we haven’t done that so well in the past games, the counter-pressing. That was good today, so we won a lot of high balls and had one or two chances to score, especially in the first half when the score could have been a bit higher. “
Nagelsmann: “Josh is world class in both positions.
And also in the second half, when several of Kimmich’s slot passes were played out sloppily at times. “It’s very important that you have someone on the six who also wants the ball and then has the necessary ball security,” found coach Julian Nagelsmann, who had recently put Kimmich back on the right side of defence of necessity. “The nice thing is that Josh is world class in both positions. He is also incredibly good as an outside defender. I know he prefers to play inside, but he doesn’t have to tell me that every week now. I’ve written that down in my notebook and I remember it. “
Meanwhile,
Kimmich is approaching his best form, no longer has any health restrictions and is now focusing on the upcoming weeks: “We need a few more games like that, we were a bit too inconsistent in some of the games before. We are on the right track and have to continue to show such performances, then we will get a good feeling, then we will get self-confidence. And then we will see more games like that. “