Much was recently discussed whether Vincent Kompany always made the right personnel decisions. In any case, the coach of FC Bayern did not give any reason to criticize on Saturday, after all, two of his substitutes hit.
However, it was not enough for his team against Borussia Dortmund. Four days after the Champions League defeat against Inter Milan, the Münchner in the Bundesliga had to be satisfied with a 2-2 against the club from Westphalia with the former Bayern coach Niko Kovac.
Bayern could not use the template that Bayer Leverkusen had previously delivered by the 0-0 against Union Berlin on Saturday. Not much happened on the other side. The situation at the top of the table is like before this match day: the Munich leaders lead to six points and 25 goals ahead of Leverkusen. Thomas Müller spoke of a “game of the missed possibilities”, but found: “We got closer to the championship.”
“The mentality, faith are there”
Bayern trainer Company spoke of “mixed feelings”, but in the end it is important “that we are still six points in front of Leverkusen”. When looking at Milan, the 1-2 deficit that the Munich people have to catch up to keep the chance of the final Dahoam, the confidence predominates. “Of course not everything is perfect at the moment, but the mentality, faith is there.”
The astonishing thing was that Bayern coach Vincent Kompany did not rotate vigorously with a view to the quarter-finals in the Champions League, but his colleague Niko Kovac. After the 0: 4 at FC Barcelona, BVB has little chance of moving into the round of the last four and could therefore put all strength on the rest of the Bundesliga season to be internationally back in the coming season.
But Dortmund started with five fresh players, the Münchner started with just one change compared to Tuesday: Instead of Raphael Guerreiro, Thomas Müller was in the starting eleven – and was welcomed loudly by the fans.
In fact, Kompany had no great choice. Kingsley Coman and Aleksandar Pavlović were back in the squad, but the two were out of the question for a mission from the start. Rather Joao Palhinha or Serge Gnabry, but both had not necessarily imposed on each other. “We don't lack motivation, nor is energy,” the Bayern coach was certain.
But the energy was initially not big enough to perhaps not necessarily annoyed the Dortmund, which is equipped with the highest confidence after the bankruptcy in Barcelona. The Munich team lacked speed in their attacks. In the statistics of the first half, 13 goal shots of Bayern were recorded, but only three of them were dangerous. In the 20th minute, Müller flanked from the right over the defense in front of the second post, where Harry Kane came to the shot, but failed due to Dortmund's goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. The second good opportunity resulted from a counterattack.
“In the end, the effectiveness was not the one we imagined”
Min-Jae Kim had prevented a Dortmund attack and played the ball into the opposing half, where Michael Olise ran him, storming the Dortmund goal, but did not determine enough so that Kobel could clarify. And number three was a massive spacer shot by Kane, which the BVB goalkeeper drained with difficulty over the crossbar. “In the end, the effectiveness was not the one we imagined,” said Müller self -critically.
And Dortmund? There wasn't much for a half – but then the team used a capital mistake from Kim. After a cross from Julian Rerson, the South Korean lost sight of Maximilian Beier in his back and had him head for Dortmund from a short distance from the surprising 1-0 lead (48th).
Shortly afterwards, Kim was replaced, possibly less because of his mistake, but rather because the central defender has been playing with Achilles tendon complaints for weeks. This time, however, Kompany refrained from completely convert the defense against Inter Milan, as on Tuesday, he brought Guerreiro for the left defense, Josip Stanisic moved into central defense.
If the game was a rather sluggish affair until the Dortmund lead, it now took up speed. This was initially primarily due to BVB, which now sensed his chance. “The team felt a bit gripped in honor and put everything in in the second half,” said BVB Managing Director Lars Ricken.
The Dortmund were closer to the second goal for a quarter of an hour than the Munich team. But FC Bayern recovered from the deficit. At first Guerreiro achieved the equalization (65th) with the active support of Müller, who finished the ball in the penalty area, and only four minutes later the substitute Gnabry turned the game with the 2-1. First off. Because Dortmund came back again – through Waldemar Anton, who pushed the ball after a corner from a short distance to 2: 2 over the line. A few chances followed on both sides, but no more goal in this in the second half.
