It was a largely one-sided game – and yet FC Bayern were knocked out of the Champions League by outsiders Villarreal. The people of Munich also have to attribute this to themselves.
Three minutes before the end of regular time, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann substituted the attacking winger Alphonso Davies for defender Lucas Hernández. It’s still 1-0 for the Bundesliga side, there is a risk of extra time against Villarreal, who won 1-0 in the first leg.
Nagelsmann may want too much in this situation, because Davies takes over the position from Hernández in defence, but is only partially suitable for it. When Spain counterattacked a minute after coming on, he canceled the offside against Gerard Moreno, who served Samuel Chukwueze and initiated Bayern’s knockout.
What was seen before can without a doubt be described as one-way street football. Because Bayern with a changed 3-2-4-1 formation drives one attack after the other against the guests. Villarreal defends in 4-4-2 and strictly follows coach Unai Emery’s match plan. In the run-up to the game, for example, he considers that Bayern’s strong winger Kingsley Coman should be taken in double coverage. As a result, Juan Foyth and Giovani Lo Celso consistently take care of the Frenchman – nobody falls out of line at Villarreal that evening.
Bayern shift to the wings
In purely tactical terms, Bayern are reminiscent of their time under Nagelsmann’s predecessor Hansi Flick on this Champions League evening: At the back, they defend against Villarreal’s counter-attackers with a lot of risk and sometimes even numbers. Further up there are many diagonal balls when in possession – usually first to the less closely marked Leroy Sané on the right and then to the second post on the left. Villarreal let Bayern go as far as their own penalty area, but they also know that central defender duo Pau Torres and Raúl Albiol have the air superiority, and head out crosses time and time again.
Coman is often in double cover – Bayern plays diagonally over Sané (Source: Constantin Eckner)
So Bayern has a great playful advantage, only the yield is poor until the second half. Only a few strong pressing attacks against Villarreal lead to promising scoring chances. Before Robert Lewandowski scored 1-0, it was Coman, who was in a good mood again, who intercepted a forced bad pass from Dani Parejo on the second line and immediately initiated the attack in the direction of the guest goal. After taking the lead, Bayern remain superior, but not much is happening and so Villarreal has a chance of progressing until the end.
Automatisms are missing
When the equalizer was scored, Parejo was under pressure again. This time, however, he frees himself and brings the ball forward. It is also the 32-year-old midfielder who says after the game that Bayern coach Nagelsmann may not respect Parejo’s team enough. However, the big difference between the two teams in the second leg is not in the respective match plan, but in the implementation of it.
Despite the risky approach to letting Bayern come so strong, the Spaniards appear with a great deal of matter-of-factness. Meanwhile, after the renewed tactical change from the 4-2-3-1 from the first leg to the aforementioned 3-2-4-1, Bayern are missing the automatisms in the offensive game. As a result, attackers Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller in particular are visibly cut off from the rest of the team. Nagelsmann demands that his high-calibre players be tactically flexible, although he occasionally overwhelms them. Just like the substitute Davies, who found himself in an unfamiliar role in the final minutes and was involved in the fatal goal.