Four observations from Bayern Munich’s 1-0 Champions League win over SL Benfica

Bayern Munich found a way in the end and notched a 1-0 Champions League victory over SL Benfica that, despite the result, was less than inspiring.

But the result is what matters, and the Bavarians can breathe at last. After two UCL defeats, they now have two UCL wins — and Portuguese clubs are not here to play about, as Sporting showed yesterday with a storming 4-1 victory over Manchester City. There’s much to celebrate here — but also much to talk about.

From the bad, then, to the good. And a look ahead.

Does Bayern Munich have a plan?

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a dead rubber match, like Bayern was not coming off two Champions League defeats, sitting 24th in the table, and in serious need of securing three points. Bayern played with no venom and the bare semblances of a plan.

For large stretches of this dull and vapid affair Vincent Kompany’s men circulated the ball pointlessly among themselves — possession without apparent intent. Players standing on the ball, scanning for options only to find none, and cycling it back. A half-promising dribble only to be cut out by the poorest of touches or a pass straight into a defender’s body. Slide rule pass attempts through a compact 5-3-2 Benfica setup when Bayern’s measurement equipment was clearly broken.

Harry Kane eventually began to take it upon himself, darting through the press and firing shots from long range or odd angles, under more pressure than he was probably well prepared to deal with. And so Bayern ended up with oodles of shots on target, but very rarely did they do more than sting Ukrainian keeper Anatoliy Trubin’s palms.

A lengthy passage near the half-hour mark typified Bayern’s night. Serge Gnabry managed to get some space in the box, then scuffed his chance. The ball fell to Jamal Musiala, who tried to dribble through about six defenders; he lost the ball. Benfica didn’t appear prepared to ever take extended possession themselves and Bayern kept getting it back. Konrad Laimer darted in behind eventually to create one of Bayern’s most incisive attacks of the night...but his cut-back, from a dangerous position, found only Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi.

Laimer was one of Bayern’s most industrious attacking presences on the day, but his 59th minute snatched shot — blazed a mile wide and several miles high from close range and under no pressure — just begs questions of where Bayern is deploying its resources.

Watching the German men’s national team under former Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann is a remarkably different experience. Nagelsmann has always made hay, with heralded attackers or not, flexing lethal attacking patterns and carving out space in behind even with a minimum-width approach to the field. Bayern has, what? Individual brilliance? Tight space tricky dribbling?

Much risk it, where’s the biscuit?

Football is a delicate balance. As Hansi Flick showed Bayern in his time here, and again last month in FC Barcelona colors, taking defensive risks is justified when the attacking impetus that causes it is overwhelming.

But while Bayern appears to be counting on some Musiala magic in tight spaces — and the young German superstar does often deliver — or Harry Kane screamers, it certainly looks like a disciplined enough defense can play this initiative to a stalemate. Benfica coach Bruno Lage’s men managed that for most of the game, and in the frequent moments where Bayern’s attacks fizzled out...it was air raid sirens on the counter.

Runners waiting to pounce off the shoulders of Alphonso Davies, or long balls over the top to challenge Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano, whoever was last back. Vangelis Pavlidis took a nice touch on the volley straight around Kim and looked about to go the distance before stumbling. Ángel Di María was trying to catch Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer off his line from the moment he came on.

The point its opponents smell blood in the water, they know what Bayern is giving them. Is Bayern really generating enough the other way? Recent goal fests will say “yes”. But when the moments of brilliance don’t come, when the dam doesn’t break and the resistance doesn’t melt away, it starts to look awfully hard to justify.

Leroy Sané has to be back in the XI

Veteran winger Leroy Sané is finally back to feeling 100%, but it still wasn’t enough to get into Vincent Kompany’s XI on this occasion. After this performance, though, perhaps that will change.

Sané has looked like a live wire every time he’s come on this season — sometimes pressing too much, but always providing an injection of energy, and pace, that has sometimes seemed wanting on that Bayern right flank. The former Manchester City star is not one to seek out traffic — to dribble himself into a cul-de-sac and see if he can try to wriggle his way out. Instead, he seeks space: gliding towards the greenest pastures, traversing the width of the field if he has to, and is equally open to looking for a clever (sometimes too-clever) pass or uncorking a shot. His lasers in the 59th and 64th minute were two of Trubin’s sharpest tests of the night before Bayern’s goal.

Sané is a player who brings life to the Bayern attack — who makes all the risks of pushing up and pressing high worth it. With Sané on, spaces seemed to open up wider, for his teammates as well. And that is likely more than just a function of fatigue. By the eye test, Bayern’s chance quality improved from his substitution (56’) onward — and the scoreboard will not contest that.

In admiration of resistance

Bayern had a whole bunch of tame shots but they had had some good ones too. In particular, a first half Joshua Kimmich corner resulted in a rat-a-tat battery of efforts at Trubin’s goal, first from Kane at an awkward angle at the far post and then shortly thereafter a stinger from distance by Gnabry.

In the end, the Bavarians had 24 shots in all and 10 on goal. Trubin stood strong for all of them, and when he was beat, there was little he could do — Sané’s whipped delivery finding the head of Harry Kane first before getting headed across for Musiala to tap into an empty net.

It’s a credit not only to Trubin but to the whole defensive unit, as well as Lage, the coach. Trubin, however, deserves a special mention for his role in standing tall and making those saves, never spilling, never cracking in the face of adversity and repeated tests.

The Ukranian keeper’s old club, Shakhtar Donetsk, is the subject of an inspirational Paramount+ documentary ‘Football Must Go On’, aptly advertised at the half-time break as clouds of uncertainty grow ever darker over Europe. Today, Shakhtar Donetsk won — 2-1 over Young Boys, also in the Champions League, and Trubin can hold his head high in defeat.

Bayern can hold its head high too, ultimately. In the face of a stiff test, with the prospect of more dropped points looming that the Bavarians could ill afford, it found a way. The next test will be far stiffer: a wounded, but lethal Paris Saint-Germain side, who lost 1-2 at home to Atlético Madrid today.

PSG is now in the position Bayern was and might have remained without Musiala’s breakthrough: 1W-1D-2L, and 25th in the table. Former Spain boss Luis Enrique is in charge now, and the Parisians come to Munich on November 26th.

Strap in. The road ahead is long.

Aside: Life beyond football

Finally — it sounds like there was a serious medical incident at the stadium today, which contributed to the somber mood on the pitch and after the match. We’ll refrain from full details until we know more. From the @FCBayern Twitter account:

Today our fans refrained from chanting in the stadium and our match reporting was also more restrained tonight, since there was unfortunately a medical emergency at the Allianz Arena. — FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) November 6, 2024

Today our fans refrained from chanting in the stadium and our match reporting was also more restrained tonight, since there was unfortunately a medical emergency at the Allianz Arena.

Hoping that whatever happened here, everyone involved is okay.

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