There were a few answers after this game, but mostly a lot of questions. One of them, perhaps the most important, was: In which language do the French Lucas Hernández and the Markgräfler Christian Streich abuse each other? When Hernández trotted to substitute in the 84th minute, he did so at the pace of a man who doesn’t want to catch the bus at all. The closer the line got, the slower Hernández got, and the slower Hernández got, the faster Streich waved.
Streich and his Freiburg residents bring attitude to Munich
What is she doing with us little Freiburg?, Streich thought for years at such moments, but even he, who can be so worried, has probably changed his standard question a bit by now. The idea that Freiburg could be “small” will not let anyone get away with the popular prank, and if he wasn’t such an enthusiastic competitor, he should have cheered at Hernández’s attempt to stand.
Because that was also an answer that afternoon in the Munich arena: The Freiburg team has grown so big that the gigantic Bayern Munich has to buy time against them. It was already 2-0 in this 84th minute, FC Bayern usually uses such results to add a few ribbons in the form of a 3-0 or 4-0.
But Hernández hadn’t sat on the bench when Manuel Neuer prevented the Freiburg connecting goal with a spectacular reflex against Nicolas Höfler (85th), and three minutes later Neuer had to prove again that he was “still by far the best Goalkeeper of the World “is how his coach Julian Nagelsmann later praised him. Neuer deflected Lucas Hoeller’s shot to the side and secured the ball in follow-up.
“It’s a shame that we don’t make the connecting goal three or four minutes earlier,” said Streich at the press conference, “then I think we might have had the chance to equalize.” When the connecting goal actually fell, Hernández was already sitting comfortably, it was the 93rd minute of the game. It was too late to take two more points from FC Bayern, which was a good thing from a purely aesthetic point of view. Otherwise Streich would never have been able to say this sentence: “I rarely have a joy when I lost. Otherwise I was at peace today.” Unfortunately, there aren’t any T-shirts huge enough to have this phrase printed on them.
Bayern now superior league leaders
On this afternoon in Munich, two stories intertwined, which on the one hand can stand on their own, but on the other hand belong together. There was the story of the league leader from Munich, who had it much harder than usual in front of a sold out house for the first time and had to fear for victory up to the 96th minute despite the goals from Leon Goretzka (30th) and Robert Lewandowski (75th).
There was the story of SC Freiburg, whose defenselessness now seems to be so reliably available that Christian Streich has to simulate a certain annoyance in order to prevent higher claims. He didn’t want to hear “about the Champions League and stuff like that,” he warned the reporters, “take care of Bayern and Dortmund and the others and leave our boys alone.”
But there was also the story that relates the two teams to each other. The Bavarians were of course the superior team, they find their way in the three-and-a-half defensive chain system of coach Nagelsmann better and better, and Nagelsmann’s idea to fill Leroy Sané has given the Munich game a new spice note. Nevertheless, the Freiburg team demonstrated to the league how you can put FC Bayern under stress: with a team that dares to do something. Freiburg have a coach who plays them down with relish, but either it’s a trick or the coach has to be seriously worried about his credibility in the dressing room. Because the little one does not believe his team.
This afternoon it was less a question of the specific tactics (yes, that too), it was more about the attitude. The Freiburg team went into this game with respect, but without any humility, and they had loads of bodies with them. In a single scene, the defender Nico Schlotterbeck first checked the world-famous Thomas Müller away, a few seconds later Lucas Höler bumped into Dayot Upamecano, resulting in two legal ball wins.
“We were brave throughout the game,” praised Christian Streich, whose team you can see more and more of their shared past. The players have known each other for a long time and trust each other, the automatisms work, and the self-confidence has meanwhile become so natural that Streich can switch offensively in the final phase without disturbing his team. Of course you want to catch up 2-0 in Munich in ten minutes, so what else?
In the end, Freiburg were probably the best opponent that Bayern have faced in this Bundesliga season since the first match day in Mönchengladbach (it is hereby assumed that the home defeat against Frankfurt was an accident). Freiburg’s bad luck, however, was that Bayern have already had their dark autumn evening behind them, with the 0: 5 in the Cup in Gladbach, everything bad came together.
On a normal day, however – that was also one of the answers this afternoon – the individual quality of the Bayern players and their “abnormal pace” (prank) are still enough to win. Goretzka’s opening goal was a pattern combination initiated by Upamecano from his own defense, in which Goretzka and Müller played each other with one contact in front of the goal; Also the 2-0 – new on Hernandez on Tolisso on Davies on Sané on Lewandowski – Nagelsmann had previously copied from a textbook.
Bayern increased their lead over Borussia Dortmund to four points this weekend, and the third-placed club, a club called SC Freiburg, is now six points behind, but – and then we leave the boys alone again – still stable on champions League course. Please don’t rant, Mr. Streich!