FC Bayern needed many goals to advance directly to the round of 16 or to finish better than 12th place. It is incomprehensible why coach Vincent Kompany did not field his best starting eleven in the 3-1 win against Bratislava.
Vincent Kompany may point out that there were many offensive players on the pitch or that Mathys Tel had earned his place. The fact is: instead of an easily possible 6-0 or 7-0 win, FC Bayern only won 3-1 against Slovan Bratislava and will now face Manchester City or Celtic Glasgow in the Champions League play-offs instead of Sporting Lisbon or Club Brugge.
Especially if it should be City, a possible elimination can take revenge bitterly for this line-up. Three more goals, a 5-0 instead of a 3-1, and Bayern would have finished tenth, ahead of Borussia Dortmund. While it remains hypothetical whether Bayern would have scored more goals with a different starting lineup, it is likely in any case.
Jamal Musiala and Kingsley Coman, who has recently improved his form, would have been particularly likely to have started in such an important game. Instead, they only came on after an hour or so, with Musiala immediately setting up Harry Kane to make it 2-0. Coman later scored to make it 3-0. Kompany had opted for long-term and often injured Sacha Boey and the outgoing Mathys Tel from the start.
It is also true that Bayern did not lose their direct qualification for the last sixteen against Bratislava, but they lost it at the latest with the 3-0 defeat in Rotterdam a week earlier. That was against Feyenoord, who lost 6-1 at Lille on Wednesday. Losing in Rotterdam and Barcelona by three goals each cost them dearly. After the 9-2 win in the first game against Zagreb, Bayern’s goal difference in the remaining games was 11-10. Not enough to earn a place in the top 8.
FC Bayern will now have to pay the high price for this with the possible opponent Manchester City, although, given their away weakness, the trip to the infamous Celtic Park in Glasgow would not be an easy one either. Neither is impossible for a FC Bayern in top form. Will they have reached the latter by then? At least Kompany would be likely to choose a different line-up then