Bayern Munich Look For Answers After UCL Exit Against Man City

There was no miracle at the Allianz Arena as Bayern Munich has now been officially eliminated from the Champions League by Manchester City. Bayern is out of the competition after losing the first leg 3-0 in Manchester and a 1-1 draw at home.

In fact, the second leg results paints over the cracks of what has been a mediocre performance at best by the German record champions. Erling Haaland (57’) scored the opener after yet another mistake by Dayot Upamecano—the French defender only escaped a sending off in the first half thanks to VAR and also gave away a penalty that Haaland missed. Bayern’s only goal of the tie came in form of a questionable handball penalty that Joshua Kimmich converted (83’).

“I think we had City on the hook again, even more so than in Manchester,” Thomas Tuchel said after the game to the German television station DAZN. “But, like last week, we never had that moment of luck which you need to turn this around. I am very satisfied with how we performed.”

There is some truth in Tuchel’s comments. You could make an argument that for 60-70% of the entire draw, Bayern went toe-to-toe with Man City. The difference were major individual mistakes made on both sides of the pitch.

Bayern had a good start to the second leg, struggled to penetrate the box with determination. And when they did get into the box, there was a lack of finishing. The best chance, in fact, came in the form of Leroy Sané at the start of the game. Perhaps if that had gone in, things would have been different, there would have been momentum for a comeback.

But without an early Bayern goal, Man City was able to settle the game, sit back and force their opponents into making individual mistakes. “It was a good game from us, a really strong game,” Sané said to BT Sports after the game. “I had to score. It’s tough because we lost the first game 3-0. We had them under control, pressured really well and won lots of balls in midfield. If I had scored, I’d like to know what would have happened.”

That sense of a missed opportunity could be very much felt around the Allianz Arena. In fact, there were many fans who felt that the board was too rash in their decision to replace Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel and there could be banners seen around the stadium asking for CEO Oliver Kahn and director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic to step down.

But would have things been different under Nagelsmann? “It’s difficult to say what would have happened with a different coach,” Kimmich said. “I think we’ll benefit a lot from Thomas Tuchel. Of course it’s a difficult situation for him. He comes here and we immediately have very, very important games.”

The players, of course, have very little input when it comes to coaching decisions. They also do not have the power to buy and sell players. Those decisions are made by Salihamidzic and the board. The very same board that is now being criticized for not signing a proper replacement for Robert Lewandowski, who left the club for Barcelona last summer.

“We have to score more goals,” Salihamidzic said after the game to the media. Salihamidzic, however, was quick to deflect blame of not addressing shortcomings last summer. “We all planned the squad together, including the former coaching staff. We’ll work on it in the summer.”

It is, of course, somewhat easy to blame the previous coach for not wanting a proper no.9 to replace Lewandowski, especially when Nagelsmann asked for a new striker internally. Furthermore, Nagelsmann, at least in the Champions League, built an effective system that compensated for Lewandowski’s absence.

After all, under Nagelsmann, Bayern convincingly beat Barcelona, Inter Milan—who are now in the semifinal—and PSG. The former Bayern boss successfully built a team that could spread the load among several goalscorers against teams that were happy to attack and an argument could be made that his approach might have worked better against Man City.

With that in mind, the criticism against the board by fans seems to be warranted. Tuchel was also partially hired to secure success in the Champions League. The new boss, however, failed at the first hurdle. Add the exit in the DFB Pokal and the pressure in the Bundesliga, and the board will soon face more questions on whether all of this has been worth it.

Does that mean change will be on the horizon? Probably not in the short-term. But Tuchel, Salihamidzic and Kahn have to show next summer that they can get Bayern back on course, and satisfy a group of fans, who want nothing short but Champions League success.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth