The Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich have always been a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, successes and failures, and through the splendid form of Bayer Leverkusen, a fundamental principle has remained largely unchanged.
In Short
Bundesliga Title Race
As Thomas Tuchel’s team began to feel the weight of the 12th consecutive Bundesliga title, old muscle memories stirred awake. They would eventually show their true colors in games where it mattered most, but not quite in the way anyone had expected. Because it wasn’t just a loss, it was a humiliating defeat, an assault on Bayern’s identity in the race for the title race Bundesliga. The fast, hungrier, more creative Bayer Leverkusen team prevailed.
Zabi Alonso
Zabi Alonso, meantime, outperformed Tuchel, solidifying his standing as the game’s most perceptive young coach with creative lineup decisions, exquisite tactical execution, and deft bench management. The gap at the top of the Bundesliga is now five points, and yet in the coming days and weeks, most conversations in Germany will revolve around Bayern’s explosion, Bayern crisis, and Bayern smoke.
Thomas Muller expressed his frustration
In a post-match TV interview, Thomas Muller expressed his frustration, saying, “To be honest, I’m angry.” “To quote Oliver Kahn: what’s missing are the balls. Feeling the pressure is okay, but you need energy and freedom. It’s not just about the coach. Sometimes we need to talk about the players too.”
Thomas muller in today’s interview following Bayern 3-0 loss to Leverkusen:
— Donotdistubr (@donotdistubr) February 11, 2024
“There are some symptoms you can also see on the pitch and I’m honestly pissed off as a result. What we’re missing is and that’s why i say it publicly, that we show better approaches in training because… pic.twitter.com/323rN1sImG
And if Bayer Leverkusen always believed, perhaps this was the moment when the rest of us could too. Josip Stanisic opened the scoring, Aleksandar Dragovic became the game-changer in the second half, Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka were sensational in midfield, and Jeremy Frimpong scored brilliantly during injury time. But what sets this Leverkusen team apart is how little they rely on individual brilliance.
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They move pieces continuously from unusual angles and apply steady pressure as a cohesive unit, both in defense and attack. Here, Alonso was a striker without a recognized striker’s authority. Amin Adli played as a false nine supplemented by Nathan Tella on the right. Frimpong’s inclusion was another surprising decision by Stanisic. Alonso talks a lot about flexibility, and this performance – artistic and elusive, precise in all the right places and versatile – is why.
Every cinematic element
As a result, the game included every cinematic element of a David Lynch movie, including plenty of hidden meanings, strange interpretations, and mystery and red herrings. What prompted supporters to toss candies onto the field? Why wasn’t Stanisic celebrating his team’s lone scorer? Why were Bayern’s full-backs playing in the opposite direction? And why was there a home fan dressed in papal attire? Some questions were easier to answer than others.
The sweets, which began eight minutes late, were part of a long-standing protest by fans across Germany against the proposed sale of a stake in Bundesliga media rights to private investors. The fancy dress carnival was for the weekend. Stanisic’s present predicament with Bayern. And perhaps Tuchel’s decision to field the left-back was an attempt to match Frimpong’s pace, which didn’t work out from the start.
Bayern seemed confused
And so Bayern was defeated not only in behavior but also in principle. Perhaps their defense seemed so uncertain because it was never entirely clear what they were trying to defend. Perhaps Harry Kane’s anonymity was a result of Bayern’s lack of clarity on how to incorporate him into the game plan. The result was three goals of varying degrees of damage.
Stanisic’s first opportunity came when Manuel Neuer saved, Bayern were completely asleep for the second leg, and Grimaldo failed to track Alexander Pavlovich’s run. The third came during an injury, with Neuer still ready for a corner (why?) and Frimpong spinning the ball beautifully from about 30 yards away.
To be honest, the difference could have been even greater. Bayern struggled to create any decent chances throughout the night. And undoubtedly, it’s still only February, and Leverkusen has never won a Bundesliga title in their history, and nothing is certain yet. But if the call to the era of Bayern dominance is still premature, it has never felt more uncertain than this.
