When FC Bayern held its annual general meeting last weekend, there was unusually little glitter for the club’s luxurious conditions. Almost every speaker drew attention to this, unless he was talking about the controversial sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways: Next year, there could be a few more trophies behind the scenes than just the obligatory championship trophy and the rather insignificant Supercup. Oliver Kahn announced that he had marked the final dates for the DFB Cup and Champions League in red next year.
Four days later, the CEO’s daring plan is still possible. With a 5: 2 (1: 1) at FC Augsburg, the German record champions made it into the third DFB Cup round for the first time since 2019. But FC Bayern’s appearance only looked glamorous in phases after glittering trophies. And again it took a protagonist who didn’t seem to have been chosen as such at the start of the season: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who scored two goals.
Under the circumstances, the game was not only a special one because FC Bayern had been so unsuccessful in the DFB Cup in previous years: In the 2020/2021 season (after a penalty shoot-out at second division Holstein Kiel) and 2021/2022 (with 0: 5 in Mönchengladbach), Munich had already lost in the second round. Like back then in Kiel, FC Bayern played in special jerseys, this time colorful ones, for the 50th anniversary of the Olympic Stadium. And of course there was also the fact that Augsburg was the scene of the first defeat of the season: on the seventh day of the game, after three previous draws, Bayern lost 1-0 to a struggling, scratching and counter-attacking Augsburg. He would question everything, said coach Julian Nagelsmann at the time.
At Bayern, the absence of Manuel Neuer is noticeable
The parallels were quite obvious from the start: the Augsburgers stood on the feet of the Munichers, and they seemed perplexed at first, although they must have known it. In any case, in the first five minutes, FCA striker Ermedin Demirovic shot once to the side netting, almost successfully disrupted Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich on the tee shot and fouled Matthijs de Ligt.
The fact that Ulreich opened the attacks with his passes as a substitute for the injured Manuel Neuer was the start of the problems for FC Bayern. His shots were often a bit inaccurate, and the ball came back quite quickly in the ninth minute: Augsburg won the first duel in the air, also won the following duels in midfield, and Mads Pedersen scored from distance.
Although it initially seemed as if Bayern had learned little from the defeat in September, they have of course gained a few insights since then, one of them last Sunday: In Choupo-Moting, 33, before that only a substitute, coach Nagelsmann had despite the farewell by Robert Lewandowski found a remaining center forward in the squad. In the 5-0 win against SC Freiburg, Choupo-Moting scored one goal himself, one he initiated, one he set up.
Choupo-Moting also started in Augsburg. The fact that he scored again in the 27th minute was not only due to his quality, but also a lot to do with the opposing goalkeeper Tomas Koubek, who kindly allowed him the so-called short corner. Bayern recovered better from Augsburg’s awkward style of play during the first half. In Leon Goretzka they had a midfielder who held back in the duels and thus compensated for the fact that Joshua Kimmich found it difficult to get into the game.
Sadio Mané sometimes seems harmless
However, if the Munich team got into the final position, Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry or Sadio Mané either did not place enough shots or shot too weakly. Mané didn’t get the ball in the goal even from a short distance: in the first half he shot Koubek, in the second he aimed past after Gnabry had hit the crossbar with a deflected shot.
Mané, who was still a goal scorer on Sunday, looked as harmless in the penalty area as he sometimes did in this early phase of the season, which was complicated for Munich. After all, he showed some of his other qualities, which were quite abundant: in pressing he won the ball before Kimmich angrily slammed it into the goal in the 53rd minute to make it 2-1. Shortly thereafter, however, Mané was replaced – and Choupo-Moting, as on Sunday, became the main actor of the evening.
The 33-year-old had already made it 2-1 through Kimmich. Six minutes later he was correct when Augsburg shot each other in their own penalty area. And even if he took advantage of an opponent’s mistake again, one had to speak of the primal instinct of a center forward at the latest.
Augsburg stayed in the game because Dayot Upamecano deflected a cross from Demirovic into his own goal in the 65th minute, but Bayern’s defense seemed poorly organized. Fifteen minutes before the end, Musiala scored to make it 4:2, after a nice assist from Alphonso Davies and with an untenable conclusion. For once, Choupo-Moting just watched. In the 85th minute he was substituted for Marcel Sabitzer. The work was finally done – the former Schalke player saw Davies’ 5:2 (90+1) from the sidelines.