Marcel Sabitzer, FC Bayern’s summer signing from RB Leipzig, has not yet been particularly conspicuous at his new employer. When he was used, you could usually tell from his game that he was still getting to know his colleagues, and sometimes he even threw in noteworthy bad passes. Well, in the game at FC Augsburg, he wasn’t necessarily in the spotlight because of his performance. It was more about him playing because someone else wasn’t playing in the central midfield position.
Kimmich does not play – and yet it is an issue in Augsburg
FC Bayern lost their second game of this Bundesliga season on Friday evening, 1: 2 (0: 2) to their Bavarian neighbors and relegation candidates FC Augsburg. And at the latest when the 35th minute of the match ran, the story around this game seemed to catch up with the sporty on the lawn. Sabitzer lost the ball in midfield against Augsburg striker Andi Zeqiri, the FCA countered quickly on the left wing, André Hahn hit in the middle with a header. And suddenly the record champions were 2-0 down.
The story surrounding the game was this: In the afternoon, Bayern had confirmed that Joshua Kimmich had to be quarantined again, for the second time as a contact person for a corona infected person. In the national team it was still team mate Niklas Süle, this time it was someone from Kimmich’s private environment. For the second time it was due to Kimmich’s, as is well known, so far missing vaccination. And that on a day when rules were to be worked out in Berlin in order to possibly enforce the 2-G rule for professional athletes.
The side effects and side effects of the pandemic emergency in the country shaped the game not only on the position in the central midfield of Bavaria. In addition to Süle, the Munich team was also missing the substitute defender Josip Stanisic, who tested positive. The Augsburgers lacked the regular Ruben Vargas who tested positive. And possibly for the last time for some time in Augsburg there were 26,000 spectators in the stadium, most of them wore a mask over their mouth and nose. And many of them sang anyway: “Oh, how nice that is.”
“The first half was bad,” said national player Thomas Müller, and was pretty clear in the classification of the defeat: “For us, this is a bitter setback in our understanding of how we want to play games.” Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl, on the other hand, said: “Of course today is a public holiday.”
Augsburg initially accepted the entire uncomfortability of the cool, damp November evening better. When it gets uncomfortable, the almost eternal relegation fighters from the Bavarian Swabia unfold their strengths, as is well known, the toughness in duels, the pinprick counterattack, toxicity with footballing means in every action. Already the 1-0 in the 23rd minute fell after a cross from the left side, Mads Pedersen pushed the ball over the line, and even if he wasn’t directly to blame: Kimmich substitute Marcel Sabitzer was already too late. Shortly afterwards, the second Augsburg goal followed in a similar pattern, only this time Hahn completed it with his head.
Marcel Sabitzer is too late
Bayern quickly shortened to 1: 2 in the 38th minute with Robert Lewandowski’s 14th goal of the season on matchday 12. But the race to catch up really only began shortly after the break, with two changes from coach Julian Nagelsmann: The initially spared left-back Alphonso Davies came for Omar Richards – and Jamal Musiala came for Sabitzer. “Let’s go Bavaria, fight and win,” shouted the fans from Munich who had traveled with us. You haven’t heard it that often recently.
The fact that Kimmich was missing, for reasons that could easily be avoided, had to be taken into account over and over again during the course of the game. It would have been he who would have urged his colleagues to roar, eyes narrowed and mouth wide open. “If the politicians decide that, we would of course accept that,” said sports director Hasan Salihamidzic before the game at the broadcaster Dazn when asked what he would think of a 2-G rule on the field, which of course not only affects the squad Bavaria would downsize by the unvaccinated professionals.
Even without Kimmich, the favorite fought against the defeat and had the ball almost non-stop. Especially the 18-year-old Musiala initiated the Munich attacks with his repeatedly fabulous ball agility. Still, there were comparatively few chances to score. And in between, a pass from Leon Goretzka flew straight out of the way without any distress. It looked like a lot of frustration when the cameras caught Nagelsmann’s expression.
“It’s annoying and preoccupied. Nobody asks anything about Augsburg, we’re just talking about the pandemic,” Nagelsmann said at the press conference before the game, and when someone asked about Augsburg, the coach said it was about the the “second lowest” team in the league in their own half. Bayern felt that in the final phase, Augsburg only knocked the ball out, the four-man defensive chain often defended on their own six-yard box, but did so in a focused and self-sacrificing manner. And even if Lewandowski missed a great chance, the Augsburgers defended successfully until the end.