3 things that went right for Bayern Munich against Sevilla
Final Score: Sevilla 1-2 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich travelled to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Spain to take on Sevilla in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final fixture on Tuesday night.
At kickoff, Sevilla looked like capitalising early on in the game as Bayern's defence looked a bit jaded. After missing out on a couple of chances, Pablo Sarabia finally got hold of an early Sergio Escudero cross to score from close range for the home side.
A few minutes later, Franck Ribery saw his cross deflect off Jesus Navas into the back of the net past Sevilla's keeper David Soria.
Some to and fro action ensued thereon and the Bavarians finally took the lead when Thiago Alcantara scored a header from a Ribery cross, albeit with a deflection off Sevilla skipper Escudero.
Despite not turning out in full flow on the night, Die Roten pulled off an important 2-1 away win against the Andalusian side and here are the three things that went in their favour.
#3 The first two substitutions
Bayern Munich endured a difficult first 30 minutes of the game. The defence was shaky, the midfield was uncalibrated, and the attack dysfunctional.
In the process, The Bundesliga table-toppers gave away a slew of chances and some poor finishing by Sevilla saw them trail by only a single goal.
However, things changed for the better with an unintended substitution in the first half. Arturo Vidal went down with some discomfort and was replaced by James Rodriguez at the 36th-minute mark.
A minute later, Bayern scored their equaliser and got right back on track. With Rodriguez operating on the right side of the Bayern midfield, he combined well with Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich to string a few passes together.
This got the flow going for the Bavarians and they finally showed decent potency on the attacking side of things.
At half-time, Jupp Heynckes replaced the struggling Juan Bernat with the much more experienced Rafinha. This move helped in closing down the lid on Pablo Sarabia who was taking Bernat to the cleaners.
Rafinha provided the much-needed composure to keep the Spaniard in check and did not allow him enough room to link up with Ben Yedder.