Slips in the slide and new defensive concerns: Bayern Munich once again experienced a nightmare evening in the second round of the DFB Cup.
Thomas Tuchel’s team was embarrassed by the rebellious third division team 1. FC Saarbrücken with a 1:2 (1:1), and Matthijs de Ligt is also threatened with failure. The defense chief injured his right knee in the early stages – three days before the cracker against Dortmund there is a red alert.
“We had a lot of situations that we could do better. We just weren’t clever. You have to congratulate Saarbrücken for the fight,” said Thomas Müller on “ARD”: “We did a lot of things wrong, but it could have gone differently .”
After the recent second-round defeats in Kiel and Gladbach, the Munich team lost their first chance for the title again in the second round, despite an early lead through Thomas Müller (16th). After 27 years and 23 cup games, it was the first defeat against a team below the two federal leagues. “I can’t believe it. This is crazy,” said the strong Saarbrücken goalkeeper Tim Schreiber.
Saarbrücken disenchants FC Bayern
The underdog from Saarland rewarded himself for an outstanding performance with goals from Patrick Sontheimer (45th + 1) and Marcel Gaus (90th + 6), a similar sensational run to the historic semi-finals in 2020 seems possible.
On Monday, all signs pointed to the cancellation of the cup clash due to the water on the pitch. But the drying measures carried out at short notice after the game against Dresden was abandoned were fruitful; referee Frank Willenborg gave the green light the morning after an inspection of the pitch. Tuchel initially rested Harry Kane, among others, with Dayot Upamecano, Noussair Mazraoui, Raphael Guerreiro and Leon Goretzka missing numerous defensive specialists injured or ill.
Bayern’s B-Elf with problems
And with no rain but still extremely slippery conditions, the newly assembled team had great difficulties in front of 15,903 spectators. The Saarlanders, who had outclassed Bayern around Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller 6-1 in the old Ludwigspark in 1977, started rebelliously. Defensively, they acted disgustingly in the duels, and there were always promising counterattack opportunities.
But the first shot was on the other side, Müller scored with a low shot from 20 meters after a cross pass from starting eleven debutant Frans Krätzig. This was followed by the shock of de Ligt, who twisted his knee in a defensive action. Konrad Laimer came on, Joshua Kimmich moved into central defense. Defensively, Bayern appeared disorganized, Kasim Rabihic (39th) and Amine Naifi (42nd) carelessly wasted great opportunities.
Bayern presses, Saarbrücken scores
Then, after Lukas Boeder won the ball high, Sontheimer only had to push it into the empty goal for the deserved equalizer – the hosts were sent off at the break with a standing ovation. After the change, the Munich team acted a little more purposefully in attack, Leroy Sane was denied twice by goalkeeper Tim Schreiber (50th, 59th). Tuchel, who was extremely hesitant, made three changes after an hour and switched to a three-man chain – this brought additional offensive momentum.
Now there was attack after attack on the Saarbrücken gate, and there was hardly any relief. Instead, Schreiber became more and more in the spotlight – then Gaus scored.