How did Bayern Munich fare in the Champions League? | OneFootball

It goes without saying that Bayern Munich, for several reasons, experienced a deeply painful exit from the ongoing European Champions League, at the quarter-final stage of the competition, at the feet of reigning Serie A Champions, Inter Milan.

Despite finishing trophyless the previous season and relying on a new and relatively inexperienced coach (Vincent Kompany) at the helm for the current season, the Bayern chiefs were optimistic of reaching the final of the Champions League. There was added motivation since the final will be hosted by the Allianz Arena. With the disappointment of the quarterfinals now in the history books, let’s try and put Bayern’s CL exit into perspective.

After suffering three away losses in the group stage at the feet of Aston Villa, Barcelona, and Feyenoord, Bayern missed out on direct qualification to the round of 16. It was clear that Bayern were a work in progress under Vincent Kompany. Bayern’s high-line defense and counterpressing proved to be less effective in Europe compared to the Bundesliga.

Vincent Kompany had to endure growing pains and learn, on the fly, how to penetrate the rearguard of teams that sat in an ultra-low block with preference for the counter-attack. Those lessons took some time to sink in from the losses at Villa Park (0-1) and in Feyenoord (0-3), but Kompany would eventually show that he wasn’t incapable of tactical flexibility despite just scraping past Celtic in the play-off tie to reach the round of 16. In the battle of the two teams that subscribe to expansive attacking football with a high-line and counter-pressing, Bayern were trounced 4-1 by Barcelona in Spain. Vincent Kompany being the new boy on the block proved to be no match for the master-Hansi Flick.