4:3 win against the supposedly strongest group opponent in the Champions League, the first three points in the box. FC Bayern gained valuable insights – both positive and negative – in their win against Manchester United
First the positives: Mathys Tel is increasingly becoming the Bayern fans’ new favourite because he is becoming more and more valuable as a wild card. Against the English, Thomas Tuchel only brought on the 18-year-old in the 87th minute, and in injury time the Frenchman scored in a way that was as worth seeing as it was technically high-quality to make it 4:2. Supposedly the icing on the cake, but all the more important in view of the 4:3 that followed. In the short time he has been playing, Tel has already collected three goals and one assist this season. When can he start from the beginning? On Saturday against VfL Bochum? At the latest in the DFB Cup on Tuesday at Preußen Münster.
When Tel arrived, Jamal Musiala was already off duty. After a break due to injury, he played 75 minutes against Man United, his best performance in months. The 20-year-old showed a clear rise in form with the assist for 2:0 and some spectacular dribbling. Leroy Sané doesn’t need that, he just needs to maintain his form and continued his strong start to the season with the goal for 1:0. Even if he didn’t manage everything, he was the best player on the pitch.
The third eye-catching attacking player in the bunch was Harry Kane, who converted a penalty with precision and otherwise stood out less for his goal-scoring than for his very intelligent and almost flawless style of play. Kane is not constantly in action, but everything he does makes sense on the pitch. Min-jae Kim and Dayot Upamecano would also have been listed here had it not been for the wild final phase. Here, with the two late goals conceded, Kim in particular diluted the strong impression he had made earlier on.
Defensive potential for improvement
Which automatically leads to a look at the negative aspects. Instead of 4:3, the party should have ended 4:1 or 5:1, the initially efficient Bayern missed too many chances after the 3:1 and thus kept United alive. The team again conceded goals far too easily, three are actually too many at this level. And in the first 20 minutes, the Munich team did not find their way into the game at all, were lucky not to have to chase a deficit. A better opponent than United would have taken advantage of that.
Conclusion: The start in the top flight was successful, but coach Thomas Tuchel and his team still have enough work to do.