The Munich car was dismantled for the screws.

Time for the patient

If anyone expected open football from opponents of this level at such a distant stage of the Champions League from the very first minutes, then they were wrong. At least four halves away, no one would take a chance and reveal their cards. Thus, the first half turned out to be a kind of filler that filled the first part of a long confrontation. To kill time. So by the way, the whole game could go. But the teams showed mercy in the second half. But not everyone made it.

In the first half Manchester City and Bayern created two chances for two. They were mainly concerned about the density in defense, that the opponent does not have the slightest space. Small fouls in the center of the field were used for this, as well as tight formations and intense pressure. Time hasn’t helped. The downpour led to mistakes and inaccuracies at the most unexpected moment. Therefore, again, no one took the risk.

The rivals managed to close so well that during the break they only left the players they hit uncovered: Holland and Musiale. Both attempts were not the best. Under such conditions, an individual successful action, or some kind of luck, can reveal the game. You can cancel Rodri’s shot, who at the end of the half hour put the ball into the front nine of Sommer’s goal, for anything. But even this goal did not immediately start the second stage of the game.

suffocating embrace

The second half is one of Manchester City’s best this season. Yes, the same can also be said of a team that has won eight matches in a row, the last one with a defeat, whose run included the triumph over Liverpool (4:1) and the defeat of Leipzig (7:0). Paradoxically, City achieved this without having an advantage in ball control.

The Citizens finished the game with 44 percent possession, even though there was always the feeling that all the strings of the game lay in the hands of the team of the person “with the best haircut.” The careful, precise, but unbearable pressing without the ball was the key to success. Bayern, after a chic shot from Rodri, were faced with the need to come up with something in attack. But she just didn’t have the connections between the lines for that.

All communication was occasionally attempted by Kimmich, Sane or Musiala. But sooner or later they were closed. And Bayern remained in a position where the goalkeeper or one of the central defenders had to initiate the attack in a time-limited situation. A couple of times Sommer almost caught vertigo out of the blue. But then he corrected himself with saves that saved Bayern from repeating the fate of their compatriots from Leipzig.

But comrade Sommer Upamecano “floated” in the English rain. Even before the fatal mistake in the 70th minute, the Frenchman made inaccurate passes more than once, thought about his actions for a long time and “pushed” the ball into an uncomfortable position for his teammates. And then came the apotheosis. He lingered with the ball in front of his own box, lost the meeting with Grealish, who gave a back pass to Haaland, who already crossed softly to Bernardo Silva, who landed an unobstructed header.

We can note Grealish’s tenacity, and the subtlety of Holland, who doesn’t seem like such a generous and astute striker, and Silva’s confidence. But most of all, the helplessness of Upamecano attracts attention, who simply did not know what to do with the ball, who to turn to, when absolutely everyone is closed, and your opponent is already under his nose. Dyot’s sad and even suffering face looked even more tragic in the downpour. Maybe he hid his tears in the raindrops.

Because he kept screwing up after this oversight. For Bayern, the second missed goal did not become mobilization. He played a rather demoralizing role. Which is quite remarkable for such a team, which we are used to seeing as a kind of machine. Someone in this place must have remembered Nagelsmann and cursed the Bayern bosses who fired him. But one can only imagine what the team would look like with him at the helm, and not with Tuchel. We will never know for sure.

Meanwhile, City continued to finish off their demoralized rival and Haaland scored six minutes after the second goal. Bayern held him off very successfully in the early part of the game. But when the moment of moral collapse came, the concentration faded. De Ligt freed the Norwegian, closely guarded by him, came face to face with Upamecano, whose eyes, as we remember, were clouded with tears mixed with the British downpour, so Erling was basically left, and Stones kindly threw the ball under his stroke.

Another defeat against Manchester City. And this time not a certain Southampton, but Bayern itself. At this stage of the season, it seems that Guardiola’s team is playing the famous computer soccer game where they forgot to set the difficulty level to ‘Legend’ and keep beating everyone on ‘Professional’. Everything is too machine-like with precision, simplicity, safety and calmness. Nine victories in a row with a total score of 34:3. Something unreal.

Numbers

The main numbers are on the board. There is a route on which there are no questions. City shut out Bayern, were better in every aspect of the game and could have won more. In the first half, Manchester had seven shots on target, hitting the target three times, while Bayern had four tries and none accurate. In the second half, City had already shot ten times and Bayern eight, reflecting the more open nature of the game. But nine of the home side’s attempts were accurate, while the visitors had just four. And they, of course, were not as sharp as the blows of the “citizens”.

Tuchel, in principle, does not return to matches against Guardiola. Thomas lost to Josep for the third fight in a row. In total, there were 11 matches between their teams. And in seven cases the Spaniard’s teams turned out to be stronger, Tuchel had only three victories. By the way, Bayern have not lost this much in the Champions League since the fall of 2017, when they lost PSG with the same account.

Haaland continues statistical breakthrough. The Norwegian has scored 12 goals in his last five games. In total, he has played 39 times for City this season, scoring 45 goals in all competitions. This, by the way, is an absolute record among all football players in history. Premier League. He will almost certainly be the top scorer in this season’s Champions League. He now has 11 goals in seven games. In second place with eight goals already withdrawn from the Salah tournament.