How Bayern Munich's Herculean effort in QF loss vindicated Hansi Flick
It has been a tumultuous few months for the Bayern Munich board. Even though this seemingly unstoppable Bayern side registered a sextuple of trophies, a feat only achieved by Pep Guardiola's legendary Barcelona side of 2009, there were signs from the end of last season that all was not well amongst the higher-ups at Bayern Munich. On top of that, the all-conquering Bayern Munich team of last season were not having the best of times on the football field, either.
When Hansi Flick took over the reins of the team from Niko Kovac on an interim basis after the latter was sacked as manager, there was uncertainty about the effect that Flick's appointment would have on the Bayern Munich dressing room. Fast forward to September 2020, and Bayern had won all the trophies that could've possibly be won by one team. in the process, they thrashed the likes of Tottenham and the mighty Barcelona en route to Champions League glory in an unprecedented campaign that saw them win all their matches.
Transfer window failures: The root cause behind Bayern Munich's recent troubles
Thiago had already announced that he would leave the club once the Champions League concludes last season. The midfield maestro, who was inarguably as important to the Bayern Munich side as Robert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer, left the European Champions and went to Anfield. Ivan Perisic, the ever-reliable Croat, returned to Inter after his loan spell expired. Philippe Coutinho, who scored a brace against his own club (Barcelona) in the 8-2 thrashing, also returned to Blaugrana in the summer.
Negotiations with David Alaba had also fallen through, with the result that the current season is the final one that the Austrian will play for 'Die Roten'.
And while all wasn't going well for Bayern already as they trailed Paris Saint Germain 2-3 heading into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, it was made public that there will be no contract extension for Jerome Boateng, hence making this season his last with Bayern Munich as well.
With an already injury-ravaged squad and a first-leg deficit to tackle, the last thing Flick wanted was a discussion about the departure of his key players upon the culmination of the current season.
To his credit, Hasan Salihamidzic, Bayern Munich's sporting director, tried to fill up the holes with last-minute signings in the summer transfer window. Leroy Sane was seen as a major coup from Manchester City, while Marc Roca, Bouna Sarr, and Eric Maxim Choupo Moting were acquired too. Douglas Costa was brought in on loan from Juventus to strengthen the attacking third.
However, none of these signings have made an impact yet. Hansi Flick has openly stated that the previous season's team was "better quality-wise" as compared to the current team. And in all fairness, he isn't wrong.
Quarter-final elimination and a looming resignation
With it being public knowledge that under-fire German head coach Joachim Low will step down from the national job after the Euros conclude, it has been speculated that Hansi Flick will replace him.
And although Flick has been rather quiet about his future, trying to deflect such questions to focus on the task at hand, it was all but given that the second leg against PSG would be a major deciding factor in Flick's future with FC Bayern Munich.
Without the ever-reliant Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry in the first leg, Bayern created a countless number of chances but failed to finish them, losing the tie 2-3 at home.
Bayern had gone on to lose Niklas Sule and Leon Goretzka to injuries in that brusing game. A daunting schedule till February had already led to a fatigued squad. The team were further ravaged by injuries through international matches. In fact, the only substitutes on the bench against PSG with experience of playing in the Champions League were Musiala and Javi Martinez.
Flick's team still managed to put decent pressure on the Paris side and might have pulled another rabbit out of the hat, had a particular summer signing (I'm looking at you, Leroy Sane) hadn't been so wasteful in the final third. Hence, even though almost all the Bayern players played their hearts out and won the game 1-0, they were eliminated by a spirited PSG side on away goals.
The players had given it all, and they should hold their heads up high. It was an edge-of-the-seat contest and would inarguably have been a much easier tie for this Bayern Munich side had their goal-machine Robert Lewandowski been fit for the match. All props to Flick, who almost pulled off the impossible against a seemingly unstoppable PSG attack consisting of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe with whatever he had left in the tank.
This match might just be an indication to the Bayern Munich board to provide more control to Flick in terms of transfer policies, as he definitely knows the team better than Salihamidzic, with whom the coach seems to be on a collision course, does.
If that still does not happen, we might have seen the last of Hans-Dieter Flick in Bayern Munich's managerial dugout.