2024-05-01 13:18:43
FC Bayern made a strong start to the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. But he has to settle for a 2-2 draw at home once morest Real Madrid.
Bayern defender Kim Min-jae brings down Rodrygo, allowing Real Madrid to make it 2-2 with a penalty.
Sometimes the really big football games, which are loaded with historical references and current dynamics, are best explained by very trivial events. After FC Bayern’s entertaining 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League, there was, on the one hand, the not entirely surprising realization that coach Thomas Tuchel’s side can hang in there and score goals in their best moments once morest the Spanish giants. But it was not enough to win as defender Kim Min-jae allowed the efficiency artists from Madrid to score two goals with two errors.
Kim was “too greedy,” Tuchel said, “something like that happens.” Otherwise, the crowd was pretty much what was expected from Real: “They did to us what they do to everyone: two goals from two chances to score.” Everything is to be expected and not surprising.
It has long been a competition of ideas – Ancelotti sees potential for improvement
This is how Real Madrid are today: The players slow down, bravely endure phases of opposition pressure, where they defend with an impressive ability to hold out, before suddenly striking. It is more a very specific character that shapes Real Madrid’s game than a complex game idea.
Strong Munich midfielder Konrad Laimer spoke of an “up and down” Real initially led thanks to a goal from Vinicius Junior, following Bayern had actually been superior. Kim had allowed himself to be lured out of the defensive line in the hope of winning the ball and opened up space for a brilliant pass from Toni Kroos, who made it 1-0. After the break, the Germans turned the game around as Real were actually stronger; Leroy Sané scored and Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot just four minutes later. The final point was Vinicius Junior, who converted an ugly penalty caused by Kim.
SO IMPORTANT SIMPLE! 💪💪💪
💫 #FCBRMA | 2-1 | 68′ 💫 pic.twitter.com/uo6pBsH5EQ
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayern) 30 April 2024
But Tuchel didn’t want to worry regarding the mistakes and missed opportunities, he started working on his setup for the second leg immediately following the final whistle. The starting position is now “crystal clear” and that makes things easy because both teams have to win, he said: “We can completely forget regarding the result. It can also help us in terms of our attitude.”
It has long been a contest of thoughts and work with the mindset that the coaches and their teams struggle at this highest level of football. Carlo Ancelotti, the head coach of the Spaniards, also tried to find the right words regarding the second leg: “Bayern showed their best version, we only partially”, he claimed, which translated means: In fact, we are better and that is why we come to the final.
Uli Hoeness as a power player in the background who surprisingly has a need for communication
In that sense, this duel was primarily the initial prelude to the real drama that will take place at the Bernabeu on Wednesday next week. “It’s still 50:50, who knows what will happen,” said Tuchel, who may think he has chances because his side have always been at their best this season when they defended and countered intensively.
That is exactly what might be possible in Madrid, although the Munich coach will not only have to deal with the twists and turns on the pitch. He is also exposed to the madness of his current employer, who is looking for his successor and has a power player in the background in Uli Hoeness who is currently surprisingly in need of information.
Recently, the club’s gray eminence caused great irritation in a speech at a conference in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” by accusing Tuchel of demanding expensive additions instead of improving the talents in the squad. This deeply offended Tuchel, and people commented, criticized and wondered for days. When asked if this story regarding Tuchel and Hoeness had disrupted preparations for the game once morest Real, sporting director Max Eberl diplomatically replied before kick-off on Amazon Prime: “Uli is Bayern Munich and Thomas Tuchel gives everything for Bayern Munich.”
Even more important than the question of the acute impact of the debates internally is the message for Tuchel’s successor. Because the farce makes it clear: a coach is not protected in this club, but rather, depending on the situation, criticized, sometimes even exposed or – as in the case of Julian Nagelsmann – quite surprisingly dismissed. FC Bayern can be an unpleasant employer for head coaches.
It is quite possible that Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso and Nagelsmann rejected offers to take over the Munich team next season for this reason. Other tasks seem to be more attractive to both of them. Bayern are now trying to convince Austrian coach Ralf Rangnick to work together.
Eberl argued that this process isn’t affected by the headlines these days: “No, it doesn’t make it harder to talk to coaches regarding content. We have our ideas and we want to implement them. With all the things that are happening around us, we are calmly moving things forward.”
Max Eberl should help find the right coach for Bayern.
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Eberl did not want to comment on the specific question of how far the negotiations with Rangnick have progressed, nor on the assumption spread by various media that no conversation had yet been held with Rangnick’s current employer, the Austrian association. There are many indications that a basic agreement was reached with the 65-year-old Swabian. It would also be fitting because there are two men in key positions in Munich, sporting director Christoph Freund and youth director Jochen Sauer, with whom Rangnick worked at RB Salzburg.
Bayern would probably have to pay a transfer fee for Rangnick, and there are probably further details to be clarified, especially regarding the new coach’s power. It is relatively clear that this theme will also follow the days before the second stage in Madrid. And it wouldn’t be surprising if so much hustle and bustle in this sideshow irritates Tuchel. At least around the first stage, the debates were not one of the reasons for the narrowly missed victory.
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