FC Bayern receives the next blow at Lazio Rome. Now things are getting serious – and very specific names are now required. The club management of the German record champions is alarmed – with a view to next season.
There is great public excitement after FC Bayern’s 0-1 defeat at Lazio Rome. For me, there is a lot more to this game – both in terms of insights and possible consequences.
One thing first: I don’t think that the 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend caused this defeat in Rome. Rather, I think Bayern showed a good, improved face in the first half on Wednesday evening, also because they went back to the system that makes them so strong: a 4-2-3-1 in which the central defenders also play Being able to play in their usual positions and not on the wings in the opening stages of the game – that’s FC Bayern’s system.
But of course you don’t just want to perform like that for 45 minutes, but for the entire duration of the game. And that wasn’t the case in Rome. However, Lazio is a completely different opponent than most of the teams Munich play against in the Bundesliga. This is simply a very good international level, this is the Champions League – and when a dismissal is added in a situation like this, the players think and start to ponder: Oh, we have to be careful now that this doesn’t completely backfire .
After the justified red card for Dayot Upamecano and the penalty, Bayern’s uncertainty was noticeable. They would have done the devil to take full risk in such a situation when they were outnumbered and then perhaps lose even more.
Then the mood is raised – against players or coaches
Seen from that point of view, they finished it properly within the scope of their possibilities – and with the second leg at home in mind. But of course that’s simply not enough, and that’s not FC Bayern’s claim either. But I also say: When you play two games, you don’t count on the first one, and I am firmly convinced that Bayern will win in Munich and then advance. The players have to be just as convinced, and they should show that now.
The next three weeks, including the second leg against Lazio, are the most important weeks of this season for Bayern. Then it will be decided how this season will go for them in the championship and Champions League. And they need to know that.
Bayern currently have 50 points in the Bundesliga – that’s not a bad result in itself. But if Bayer Leverkusen marches like that at the same time and remains unbeaten in 31 competitive games, then it becomes extremely loud from the outside at a club like Bayern. Then the mood is set, preferably against leading players or the coaching team.
And that’s exactly what matters now: the leading players. You are now required to answer – on the pitch, but also publicly in interviews. Thomas Müller does it exactly right: he stands up after the games, provides clear analyses, and always hits the spot. This is why he is known and appreciated.
But Thomas Müller alone is not enough. I now expect the same from personalities like Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka. You can’t duck away now, you can’t hide. Instead, they have to send signals to their fellow players – also to remind them of their own goals. That’s what they’re there for, that’s what the leading players at FC Bayern have been there for the last 50 or 60 years. That’s their job, that’s what they were bought for.