LNothing is easy for FC Bayern in this crucial phase of the season. A lot looks like hard work. Two breakthroughs came against the otherwise alert Werder defense on Saturday night, two goals were scored and that 2-0 lead with fifteen minutes to go seemed like the key to a sure victory for the league leaders.
But Bremen’s Niklas Schmidt with his dream goal in the 87th minute turned the supposed relaxation into pure hectic action, because the five minutes turned into a stress test in Munich, which the convincing referee Christian Dingert had to repeat.
Many balls flew high and far into the Bayern penalty area, and if only one of them had slipped through, the championship race in the Bundesliga might have come to a head again dramatically on this 31st matchday. But Mathijs de Ligt in particular showed off his header skills, Bayern survived the final minutes in the sold-out Weser Stadium (42,100 spectators) and celebrated their 19th win of the season – which was deserved thanks to an improvement in performance in the second half.
Schmidt hits, then it gets wild
“We’re happy with the way we played,” said coach Thomas Tuchel, “but we lack that certain something and the confidence.” Bayern are now four points ahead of BVB; Dortmund have to face VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday evening (5.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN).
This 2:1 (0:0) against the persistent and fearless climber in the north was not a highlight. It was thanks to two offensive flashes of inspiration: before the 1-0 in the 62nd minute, Jamal Musiala passed the ball on to Serge Gnabry, who shot in humorlessly. In the 2-0 through substitute Leroy Sané, it was Nouassir Mazraoui’s pass that outwitted Werder (72nd minute).
After that, the game seemed to have fallen asleep because Bayern let the ball and opponents run in a well-known but rarely seen manner.
Only with Schmidt’s goal in the corner did things get wild again – and the question arose again whether a longer goalkeeper than Yann Sommer could repel such shots. The pressure on Bayern in this phase of failure was evident in the wild celebrations of captain Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Müller after the final whistle – it’s hard to imagine what atmospheric disturbances a very late equalizer would have brought about.
Tuchel’s “hard decisions”
But Müller – again not in the starting eleven, a problem for Bayern? Tuchel praised his influence on the eleven, but also said: “There have to be tough decisions, otherwise we will not achieve our goals.”
In the first half, the Bayern team felt the uncertainty of the past few weeks. The whole team lacks inspiration, lightness, but also running paths that are accepted by everyone; it looked like artist football in the Weser Stadium, only played by solo artists in the valley of their creative phase. Visibly dissatisfied, Tuchel coached from the start, instructed, gestured – it just didn’t get any better. Werder concentrated on deep defending for 20 minutes, but then did it differently than Hertha did a week ago.
Bremen want to play football under coach Ole Werner, including against Bayern Munich. This has been fatal for many a team. It’s not too much of a risk against these mentally tired Munich players. It wasn’t for Christian Groß either, he doesn’t have fine motor skills, but he’s able to out-dance two Bayern pros before shooting just over with his left (35′).
Bayern tried it surprisingly often with Kimmich’s chip balls into the center, but there was no player with good headers to be seen, except when de Ligt moved up with corner balls. Ryan Gravenberch, who played for the suspended Leon Goretzka, only ran along. The same initially applied to Sadio Mané and Serge Gnabry.
Tuchel brings two trumps
After the break it got better. Bayern attacked Werder earlier in the build-up, seemed more determined now and stayed defensively focused. Mané cleared obstacles but gave up the lead in the 56th minute. Gnabry did better six minutes later when the ball more or less fell at his feet.
With the exchanged Müller and especially Leroy Sané, Tuchel set trumps (64th). Full-backs João Cancelo and Mazraoui, as well as Musiala, also made a profitable contribution. Tuchel applauded the steep and quick 2-0 lead: “Finally, a pass didn’t get stuck,” he said.
In the end, he had to watch as his team lost sovereignty. Nevertheless, he said: “It is important to survive such a pressure situation and to win like this.”
