Many first few times are no longer left in Julian Nagelsmann’s coaching career at FC Bayern, even if it has only just started. He has already won his first small cup (the Supercup), and he has proven on large to medium-sized football stages (Barcelona, Leipzig) that his work for the German record champions has started successfully. After three months in Munich, however, there was another premiere on Wednesday: Nagelsmann, 34, was on the sidelines for the first time in a Champions League game in his own stadium. So now he also knows what it feels like to win 5-0 (2-0) against Dynamo Kiev in front of at least 25,000 allowed spectators, the second of two group games in the so-called premier class.
“We’re the ones who keep celebrating,” sang some fans in the second half after Robert Lewandowski had met twice and Serge Gnabry once, when Nagelsmann shouted instructions through the stadium. When Leroy Sané scored 4-0 with a shot on goal disguised as a cross, the coach preferred to look at the video screen to watch the replay. And when the substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting ended up with a header, Nagelsmann clenched his fist with great routine. As if such successes with the record champions were now everyday for him too.
It was only Kiev, one might argue, but then one would not have paid attention. Nagelsmann had listed some of the Ukrainian champions’ strengths in a short lecture at the press conference before the game: The opponent would be deep, he had announced, the best player was Viktor Tsygankov. And if you only took the first ten minutes as a yardstick, then you could see everything, it didn’t look uncomplicated for the Munich team. The Ukrainians were crowded in front of their own goal, on the other side Tsygankov shot past after nine minutes. After ten minutes, however, Lewandowski had his first chance to score, after twelve he had scored the first time with a hand penalty – and after 27 minutes he had already contributed his second goal of the evening to 2-0.
Bayern coach Nagelsmann is always cheering on Alphonso Davies
Bayern had previously won eight competitive games in a row, and there are hardly any injury problems. Kingsley Coman was absent after his heart surgery, as well as Corentin Tolisso and substitute goalkeeper Sven Ulreich – but otherwise everyone is fit. Compared to the 3-1 win against Greuther Fürth last Friday, Nagelsmann only changed the starting eleven in one position, instead of right-back Benjamin Pavard, who is now suspended for two games in the Bundesliga after a red card, the more offensive Gnabry began.
Nagelsmann’s line-ups these days are always an indication of how much he has already changed in the success system of his predecessor Hansi Flick, who watched in the stands on Wednesday; he was sitting right behind CEO Oliver Kahn. Flick has already set up a defensive row like the one against Kiev, unlike against Fürth, Bayern did not run with a three-man chain, but with four defenders. Unlike Niklas Süle on the right, Alphonso Davies attacked the opponent on the left while he was in winger position, cheered on again and again by Nagelsmann.
With the lead in the back – the penalty kick was preceded by a clear handball by Serhiy Sydorchuk – Bayern’s football looked like the successful one of the past few weeks at the latest in the middle of the second half. Some of the ball wins demanded by Nagelsmann came in the opposing half. Before the 2-0 win, it was Süle who intercepted a pass and initiated the counterattack, both with a single touch of the right instep. Thomas Müller passed the ball on to Lewandowski, who had already scored twice in the 3-0 game in the first group game at FC Barcelona.
However, the Bavarians succeeded more than just the usual. Leroy Sané, for example, whose poor performance a few weeks ago had been whistled by a few fans in the same place, this time got “Leroy” chants when he fought his way into the game with one or two strong ball conquests; in the 35th minute he hit the inside post, shortly afterwards he provoked a yellow card from his opponent because he had dribbled away from his opponent Oleksandr Tymchik. In the second half he prepared the 3-0 through Gnabry in the 68th minute, to whom he passed the ball in the barrel. And finally, he was lucky in the 74th minute: His intended cross from the left wing flew into the goal of Kiev goalkeeper Heorhiy Bushchan.
In the meantime, just before and just after half-time, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had to parry twice in order not to let the guests find their way back into the game. But the world goalkeeper’s outstanding saves are somehow part of it.