Bayern Munich were completely exposed by Barcelona as Vincent Kompany’s persistence with his style of play backfired this evening in Catalonia.
Bayern started the first half poorly when within a minute, their high line was exploited when Raphinha was played through and rounded Manuel Neuer for the opener. Bayern would get their goal back when Harry Kane turned in a Serge Gnabyr cross minutes after the Englishman had a goal disallowed for offside.
The Bavarian’s high line would continue to be a problem as Barcelona would take the lead when Min-Jae Kim was not strong enough in the air and Fermin Lopez was allowed to run through at goal before squaring it to Robert Lewandowski. Raphinha would then get his second of the night just before halftime when his deflected shot from outside the box beat Neuer.
The second half was not better, the high line that Bayern were playing was becoming more suicidal as time ticked on and Bayern again struggled to do anything with their dominance in possession. Then in a similar scenario to the third goal, Raphinha was played through by a long diagonal and completed his hat-trick as he slotted home past Neuer.
The loss is not going to do any favours on the future of Neuer as his performance did not shine himself in the best of light. The long-time number one did not make a save this evening when some of the goals Bayern conceded were avoidable.
Time for Kompany to become more pragmatic?
While questions will also arise on Kompany’s lack of flexibility with his style of play as the game went along it became increasingly obvious that the aggressive high line from Bayern was continuously being exposed. The Belgian did not seem to address this issue at half-time and the game ran away from six-time Champions League winners. Kompany’s dominant style of play may work against weaker sides but in the past teams in the Bundesliga and Champions League have slowly exposed weaknesses in the style of play, the injury to midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic will likely also make matters worse.
If Bayern want to walk out at the Allianz Arena in June for the Champions League final, Kompany will have to be more pragmatic, or they will be exposed once again.
Bayern’s next game at the weekend is away at Bochum, the Ruhr side will go into the game with a new coach having fired Peter Zeidler at the weekend. The last time the teams met, Bochum surprisingly beat Bayern 4-2.
Bayern Munich XI:
Manuel Neuer (3), Raphaël Guerreiro (5), Dayot Upamecano (5), Min-Jae Kim (5), Alphonso Davies (5), Joshua Kimmich (4), Joã0 Palhinha (5), MIchael Olise (5), Thomas Müller (5), Serge Gnabry (6), Harry Kane (6)
Others: Leroy Sané (5), Jamal Musiala (5), Kinglsey Coman (5), Leon Goretzka (5), Konrad Laimer (-)
GGFN | Jack Meenan
