FC Bayern’s defeat in Rotterdam came as a surprise. The immediate consequences are all the more serious.
FC Bayern had imagined it completely differently. With a win in Rotterdam, the Munich team wanted to secure a place in the top eight in the Champions League and thus take an important step towards direct qualification for the round of 16.
After the disappointing 3-0 defeat at outsiders Feyenoord, the reality for Bayern looks completely different. It is a bitter defeat with fatal consequences. The German record champions now find themselves not among the best eight teams as hoped, but suddenly only in 15th place in the new XXL table of the premier class. This is exactly the worst-case scenario that Bayern wanted to avoid at all costs. Even before the final eighth league matchday it is almost certain: the Munich team will have to take the rocky detour via the play-offs to the round of the last 16.
CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said at the midnight banquet in the team hotel in the Rotterdam suburb of Schiedam: “This is very, very annoying.” He then added: “Of course we would have liked to have fought our way into the top eight after the other teams had played for us. We didn’t manage to do that.”
A serious setback on the desired path to the final, which will be played on May 31st at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The mood in the hall was correspondingly depressed – almost as if the big dream of the next big “finale at home” after 2012 had already been dashed.
This didn’t go unnoticed by Dreesen when he looked at the sad and disappointed faces of the professionals and other guests during his speech. “We are not out of the competition – quite the opposite,” said Dreesen and spoke of the possibility of being able to “rehabilitate ourselves again” in the final eighth game of the league phase next Wednesday.
But even an expected home win against second-to-last Bratislava with no points will do anything to change the complicated starting position that Bayern have found themselves in with their third away defeat (0-1 at Aston Villa, 1-4 at FC Barcelona) in the competition change. Dreesen is also aware of this.
“It’s certainly very difficult to move into the top eight again – you have to be realistic about that and that’s part of the truth,” he said. “But: We will accept these play-offs and will eagerly await what awaits us in the draw – if another miracle doesn’t happen and we still end up in the top eight.” For this miracle to happen, however, seven teams that are currently ahead of Bayern would have to make a mistake on the last matchday.
Joshua Kimmich now sees his team in the premier class “in a very, very bad starting situation”. The national team captain spoke plainly after the game in Rotterdam and was ruthless in his reckoning with his own team. “We have to admit that we are not a top team in Europe at the moment,” said Kimmich very clearly.
“Too far away, too fragile, not mature and ripped off enough,” said Kimmich, describing the deficits. “We are definitely leaving too much on the table. When I see how many great chances we had again, how much we invest for a chance, how much we leave behind and how easy we are making it for the opponent to score goals at the moment. That was very much today , very bad.” Kimmich’s tough conclusion: “Anyone who thinks we are a top team can’t read the table.”