Bayern Munich's elimination - A failure of epic proportions
Bayern Munich’s meek surrender to Real Madrid
Last night was witness to one of the biggest shocks of the year. What started out as a clash of the titans, a match between the top two teams in Europe, a match steeped in history and skill, ended with the utter demolition of a hapless Bayern Munich side which was left wondering what went wrong on the field against Real Madrid.
When Bayern lined up on the pitch, hopes were high. They trailed Real by a solitary goal and with the entire Allianz Arena roaring them on, they would have fancied their chances, especially keeping in mind their past record and their form this season. A quarter of an hour in, Bayern trailed thanks to the goal from the very man who had helped them get through two years ago in the penalty shoot-out with his sky-high penalty, Sergio Ramos.
Few minutes later, they were down two goals, and it was safe to say that Real had managed to close out the tie by then. If that was not enough, Cristiano Ronaldo decided to get in on the act, scoring once just after the half-hour mark and then again in the last minutes of regulation time.
Last night’s defeat though has definitely forced Bayern to sit up and take stock of the situation they now find themselves in. It has been pretty evident that Bayern are experiencing a slump in form ever since they sealed their 24th Bundesliga title. The very next game saw their record unbeaten streak end, and even at Old Trafford in the first leg of their quarter final encounter, they lacked the trademark poise and attacking flair of the Bayern that we saw early on in the season.
The 0-3 hammering against Dortmund in the league that followed further heightened the belief, that a certain amount of overconfidence had crept into the side, but even after their 0-1 loss in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, nobody could have predicted the script that played out last night. It was not that Bayern were beaten and dumped out of the Champions League that surprised fans around the world, it was the manner in which they went out.
The current Bayern Munich under Guardiola is definitely not the Bayern of old under Heynckes. The traces of Barcelona’s style of play are there to see. Guardiola has introduced his ‘tiki-taka’ brand of football at the club with which he was vastly successful at Barcelona. For the large part of this season, Bayern have enjoyed huge success, but as the season approaches its conclusion, teams have begun to read their style and set themselves up accordingly, just as Real Madrid did last night.
Over the course of the two legs, the recurring theme in their play was their counterattack. Real Madrid were more than content to sit back and let their defence soak up all the pressure from Bayern, before using the pace of Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema to go forward and score on the counter. What further helped Real Madrid was the high back-line that Guardiola had deployed. Jerome Boateng and Dante had a horrible time trying to cope with the pace of the Madrid side on the break.
Even United had shown glimpses of just how vulnerable Bayern could be with their high back-line and Real Madrid exploited it to the fullest. Last year Bayern were famed for not just their brilliance going up front but also their compactness at the back and their miserly defense. This year though along with their tiki-taka play, the full backs have been encouraged to constantly move forward and stay up to such an extent, that they are virtually playing in the midfield, leaving the centre backs to stay further up the field than they want and try and patrol the entire back line.
It has now become a matter of slipping through the midfield and then the opposition is allowed to have a real go at goal. And what was worse was to see them concede from set-pieces. Their zonal marking system was just not capable of handling the firepower that Real Madrid possessed in the air, and it was just disheartening to see them concede in the fashion they did; especially considering that they were supposed to be impregnable during set pieces up until this year.
Predictability too proved to be their bane last night. Bayern have traditionally always been very strong down the flanks, but against Real Madrid, it seemed as if they had lost all creativity. Every move began with either Ribery or Robben rushing down the flank before a fruitless cross was hammered across.
Yes, one could say that the Madrid defence was so tight, that there was absolutely no chance to fashion a move down the middle, but the few efforts that were made just lacked the precision to break down the Real defence. Mandzukic was rarely involved in the game, and after a point Bayern were forced to resort to long range shooting in an effort to score a goal.
The biggest sore point of the match though was the spirit in which the game was played. The early strikes by Madrid that finished the game off did not go down well with the Bayern players. Irritated with themselves and their frustration at not being able to make the break through caused the team to lose all their composure, a very rare sight.
Every time a Madrid player hit the deck, some Bayern player would lose their head. Arguments and scuffles were the norm of the first half, and Ribery should consider himself lucky not to have been sent off as the officials did not spot the cheeky slap that he gave Carvajal. It was really disappointing even for the Bayern supporters to see their team behave in the way they did and reduce what was supposed to be a spectacle into a forgettable night.
Bayern Munich will go out of the Champions League with a lot of regrets, but when they look back at their semi-final encounter, they will realize that their downfall was orchestrated by themselves. But one cannot take credit away from Real Madrid, who were simply brilliant on the night and now find themselves with a golden opportunity to achieve “La Decima”