The similarities between football matches in the stadium called al-Bayt in Qatar and the arena called Red Bull in Leipzig are admittedly rare, but they exist. For example: very, very euphoric stadium announcers. At the World Cup, a DJ put on his records live at the edge of the lawn at every game and enthusiastically moved to the beat in order to bring the spectators up to temperature with increased volume. It was sometimes only bearable with effort. In Leipzig they have chosen Tim Thoelke for this role for years, a man in a red suit who not only yells at the line-up of the home team, but also dances like an extravagant fencer on the planche.
On Friday, after FC Bayern’s 1-1 draw at RB Leipzig, there was still something they had in common in a game in al-Bayt, which the German national team won 4-2 against Costa Rica on December 1st, after the group stage retired from the World Cup: Joshua Kimmich criticized himself.
This was “the most difficult day of my career,” he said in al-Bayt, and that he didn’t want to be associated with the national team’s third tournament defeat in a row. In Leipzig he said, much less dramatically but clearly: “At the end of the day we win the game without my mistake.” It was about a bad pass in front of the equalizing goal for Leipzig. Kimmich said he had to “beat the ball out, then nothing happens”. And with that, at the latest, he had given himself a surprising leading role of the evening.
One could get the impression at FC Bayern in the past few weeks that it was all about one person: a new goalkeeper for the second half of the season to replace the injured Manuel Neuer. Yann Sommer, 34, then made a confident debut just one day after signing from Borussia Mönchengladbach. He passed the ball wide once, but that was the end of the mistakes, instead he was praised for his excellent footwork for a keeper, which will now be noticed by a wider audience.
There were eleven World Cup participants in Bayern’s starting XI and three in Leipzig’s
The question of what the signing of the new means for Neuer is settled for the time being, FC Bayern now has a strong goalkeeper for the upcoming tasks. And so something else came into focus in Leipzig: In addition to Neuer, six other Munich players were there when the German group ended in Qatar, and they were back on the pitch for the first time in almost two months.
Kimmich, 27, had also spoken to al-Bayt about the concern of “falling into a hole”, but he put that into perspective at the Bayern training camp when he said: “To be honest, I didn’t necessarily fall into a hole.” His performance at the start of the league did not contradict this, he had the best pass rate of all field players. But he also played the fatal bad pass in the 52nd minute, a thoughtless chip from the full-back position in the zone in front of the Bayern goal. A few Leipzig passes later, Kimmich was on the ground in the penalty area and the ball was in the goal.
Bayern’s sports director Hasan Salihamidzic wanted to see André Silva foul Kimmich, after the game in the catacombs he had a lively discussion with referee Daniel Siebert, but apart from him, few were so sure. And in the interpretation of the game, Salihamidzic had to admit that it was “not a good game” for Bayern. “It was a bit lacking in accuracy, also in aggressiveness,” he said, and then spoke of no hole after the World Cup, but something like a small hole: “You can see that we’re missing one or the other training session. “
All eleven Munich players in the starting XI were in action at the World Cup in Qatar, with Leipzig there were just three. Some of the eleven from Munich are back or still in good shape. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made it 1-0 in the 37th minute, his eleventh goal in Bayern’s tenth game in a row. Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané were very active, Leon Goretzka won many duels, Dayot Upamecano went into some duels with impressive vehemence.
But it was precisely that Upamecano, for example, who was sometimes outstanding for France in Qatar, made his typical stick mistakes in the build-up of the game, and Kimmich once had to save for him in dire need. And as far as the offensive players were concerned, coach Nagelsmann expressed his dissatisfaction with some of the decisions. “Three or four good situations where we can dribble onto the chain, where we play the ball away very early on,” he had seen, so to put it simply, too little courage. Jamal Musiala, the best German footballer at the World Cup, didn’t have his best evening. Thomas Müller, one of the weakest Germans at the World Cup, only came in the 82nd minute.
The 33-year-old was later asked about his current situation as a backup player, he reported a “good exchange” with the coach. He also relativized the interpretations of the post-WM question. “Hypothetical” is the discussion about the effects of the break. “Can we save ourselves,” said Müller. And of course there was a lot of truth in his interpretation, “on a sober note” “a point away from Leipzig is acceptable.”
Viewed soberly, Bayern did not lose what is probably the most difficult Bundesliga away game of the spring, defended a six-point lead over RB Leipzig and still have around three weeks to make up enough training deficits before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 at Paris Saint-Germain so that in the A satisfied Joshua Kimmich speaks at the Prinzenpark Stadium.