The lessons for the Bundesliga from the Bayern defeat

On Wednesday evening there was an object lesson. And for the whole Bundesliga: FC Villarreal made it quite impressively clear in the Champions League how the German series champions are in serious trouble. The Spaniards played boldly and offensively, played actively and did not wait and see, with a clear plan and a good structure. And they not only knew about the Bavarian weak point in defense, but also attacked it. Unfortunately, hardly any team in the Bundesliga dares to do this with this consequence.

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Logically, Villarreal as a quarter-finalist in the premier class cannot be compared with FC Augsburg, VfB Stuttgart or Arminia Bielefeld, especially since the Spaniards already won the Europa League last year and there are also a few excellent individual players in the team. Just think of the dangerous storm veteran Gerard Moreno, the left winger Arnaut Danjuma courted by Liverpool FC and the defensive warhorse Pau Torres. But the overall squad market value of 382 million euros is still well behind Bayer Leverkusen (434), RB Leipzig (465) and Borussia Dortmund (560). But none of this almost tragic trio has revealed Bayern’s weaknesses on the defensive and thus also in transfer policy as relentlessly as Villarreal in the recent past.

Wobbly defense

The German record champions invested almost 120 million euros in defenders Lucas Hernández and Dayot Upamecano. The current Madrilenian David Alaba and the future Dortmund player Niklas Süle, on the other hand, lacked the absolute will and money to persuade them to stay.

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The stabilization of the defense will therefore be a job for sports director Hasan Salihamidzic in the future and a main task for Julian Nagelsmann in the short term. The Bayern coach is undoubtedly a friend of risky offensive football, but has his share of the wobbly defense accordingly. From time to time, his pros look like children playing in the sandbox who, out of sheer enthusiasm, forget that there is such a thing as homework. With almost devastating consequences. Because much was not missing on Wednesday and the “yellow submarine” from Villarreal would have sunk the Munich. This should be a reminder for Bayern – and a signal to the rest of the Bundesliga.

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