FC Bayern Munich against Salzburg in the Champions League: tightrope walk at the beginning of crunch time

In his 407th Bundesliga game for FC Bayern, Müller scored his own goal for the first time. Much of the scene resembled the legendary own goal by Michael Ballack at SpVgg Unterhaching in the 1999/2000 season finale – the beginning of the end of all of Leverkusen’s championship dreams.

At the same time, that’s a bit of a dilemma for Bayern – at least from Thomas Müller’s point of view: “In the Bundesliga we don’t have that much pressure because the pursuers are reasonably far away.” The team needs this pressure to get their best performance.

Thomas Müller enjoys the pressure in the Champions League

That’s why Müller longs for the premier class. “We’re not used to Bundesliga-Bundesliga-Bundesliga these weeks. From September to December it’s always a Saturday/Wednesday rhythm. We’re used to that, we want that. We’re under pressure again now and I’m enjoying that,” he said .

The anticipation for the Salzburg game is so great because “we can once again win something that everyone can see.”

Conversely, you also lose a lot. A elimination in the round of 16 would permanently damage the season, even if the tenth championship title in a row should be at the end.

“If it doesn’t end well, it’s not a special season,” says Julian Nagelsmann. “But I’m not a doomsayer and I have legitimate hopes that we’ll make progress.”

A high error rate always causes problems for Bayern

However, the recent performances shown by Munich do not necessarily mean that Salzburg will be thrown out of the competition in passing.

FC Bayern have only won two of their last five competitive games, only scored very late in the first leg in Salzburg and in retrospect have to thank Leverkusen for their inability to not take advantage of several crystal-clear scoring chances.

“We won’t go out on Tuesday and say: ‘We’ll knock Salzburg away, they can’t do anything anyway.’ We have to be careful, the 1-1 win in the first leg isn’t a dream result,” said Müller.

Two things in the game of FC Bayen recently attracted attention: the high error rate on the defensive and the small number of own chances to score. “These – in tennis one would say ‘unforced errors’ – always bring us problems,” said Müller.

“We need to get a better sense of which zones we can take risks in and which zones need a long ball or even a free shot. We don’t always have to dribble our way out of our own penalty area. A ball is in the stands nothing wrong at the right time.” Müller’s conclusion: “We have to approach risk management better.”

A balancing act between a playful solution and “pinching” the ball

Nagelsmann emphasized that FC Bayern is used to “wanting to solve everything in a playful way. That was my plan in Hoffenheim and Leipzig. That’s even more true in Bayern, because there are simply better players here,” said the coach.

But even Nagelsmann would have no problem with “pinching” the ball from time to time. Especially since there can be an idea behind a long shot. “With long balls there is always the possibility of getting behind the chain,” said Nagelsmann.

Balancing the need to always come up with playful solutions and the need to resort to unconventional means is FC Bayern’s current tightrope walk. The question arises as to how much risk the team can take, especially in a ” “Do-or-die game” against Salzburg, capable of immediately punishing mistakes.

Against Leverkusen, the team chose the playful element, even when the guests pressed vigorously. The result was some ball losses, which gave Bayer his top-class goal chances.

Leroy Sané before starting eleven comeback

It is clear that the risk must be increased in the opponent’s half if you have possession of the ball. Torgarant Robert Lewandowski has not been a factor in recent games.

“We have to modify our offensive game and involve Lewy a lot more,” Müller demanded. Nagelsmann also recognized “that Robert didn’t get enough balls”.

One who should provide new impetus is Leroy Sané. The 26-year-old only came off the bench against Frankfurt and Leverkusen.

“I haven’t made up my mind yet, we need Leroy in good shape. But he’s an incredibly good player who I’m reluctant to do without. If he pushes his limits, he can’t be defended. As of today, he will play and I’m sure he will too make a good game,” said Nagelsmann.

Making a good game applies to the whole team. It’s (finally) crunch time at FC Bayern.