The conditions were not the best after the defeat in Augsburg and numerous absences – including some internal and public discussions. But FC Bayern still kept their Champions League whites in a 2-1 win in Kiev den.
“Considering the circumstances – apart from the pitch conditions also the personnel situation, which was already tense “, it was an important victory, said Julian Nagelsmann after the match in Kiev. The five Munich players around Joshua Kimmich, of whom Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala have meanwhile been vaccinated against COVID19, were not the only ones to be absent or stricken.
How to deal with the situation as a plus
“‘King’ could only play 60 minutes, ‘Sabi’ (Marcel Sabitzer) was still out. At the break we had to change the basic order, after I felt that we had already settled into the order 25 minutes before the break. But then we had to change because ‘Luci’ (Lucas Hernandez) was injured and unfortunately we didn’t have a third centre-back. The changeover took a little while, even though we had a few transition situations where the last pass wasn’t quite right. When the third goal is scored, the lid is on,” Nagelsmann explained. In the final phase, Tanguy Nianzou had to be replaced with a shoulder injury.
Manuel Neuer, who equalled Gianluigi Buffon in terms of Champions League appearances with his 124th, was particularly pleased with the concentration his team displayed both in the decisive attacking actions around the two goals worth watching, but also in defence at the end. “The important thing was to focus on the game today,” said the Bayern captain. “We left the secondary matters aside, which was not so easy because otherwise we would have had a different squad already,” the national goalkeeper alluded to the absences – and probably their circumstances.
Nagelsmann and the aesthetics
While Nagelsmann had once again not been entirely satisfied with the defensive work, especially with “six, seven actions by Tsygankov, which can be defended much better”, on the other hand there were two very impressive goals of his own: one by Robert Lewandowski with a overhead kick, and one also perfectly finished by Coman, after a great move involving in particular the assist of Corentin Tolisso as well as Thomas Müller, who had cleverly let the ball through.
Even Nagelsmann was undecided afterwards as to which Bayern goal had been more beautiful: “Viewed in isolation, ‘Lewi’s’ was probably more beautiful, it was well worth seeing. But as a football aesthete, the other one was probably more beautiful because it was beautifully played out.”
