FLICK SWITCH: HOW BAYERN ARE POWERING TO AN EIGHTH TITLE IN A ROW
▶ Ian Hawkey picks out seven reasons why the Bavarians, who defeated rivals Dortmund on Tuesday, will win the Bundesliga yet again
Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win at Borussia Dortmund appears to all but crown them German champions. With six games to play, their biggest rivals now sit seven points behind. That’s a good reason to believe in an eighth consecutive Bayern title. Here’s seven more things we learned about Bayern’s formidable efficiency.
Consummate experts at closing a title chase
Could this one slip? Highly unlikely. The last time they were involved in a really tight race, last season, their 5-0 pummelling of Borussia Dortmund, on the same matchday 28, was a turning point. They dropped four points from a possible 18 after that, but still finished two ahead of Dortmund. In every other title-winning season since 2013, they have finished at least 10 points ahead of the runners-up.
Bayern’s veterans are back to their best
Just more than 14 months ago, Germany manager Joachim
Low told Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller, 2014 World Cup winners, they were no longer in the national team’s plans. They were shocked.
A season later, the duo can count up their contributions to Bayern’s likely title in dozens of points.
Defender Boateng’s goalline clearance in the opening seconds at Dortmund is alone worth two (although he had some luck later when VAR was not asked to look at a possible handball). Muller’s 17 assists make him the top provider in the Bundesliga.
Flick switched on
When Hansi Flick was appointed Bayern’s interim manager, following the sacking of Niko Kovac in November, they were in danger of slipping outside the top four. Flick started well, then stumbled through successive defeats, but in his 18 matches in charge since, Bayern have won 17 and drawn one.
At Dortmund, his approach was sober but, ultimately, Bayern were commanding. Flick carried the authority of a permanent, long-term manager well before the club formally made him that last month.
On the wings, with flair
This is the first Bayern season for a decade without legendary wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Is Bayern’s style narrower in their absence? Far from it.
With Alphonso Davies’ speed, Kingsley Coman’s acceleration and the crossing excellence of Muller and Joshua Kimmich, Bayern are devastating from wide positions and were threatening enough on the flanks that Dortmund’s adventurous full-backs, Achraf Hakimi and Raphael Guerreiro, looked unusually inhibited. It may not get any easier for opponents, either. Bayern still want Leroy Sane to join them.
A spirit of improvisation
Kimmich described his match-winning goal at Dortmund as “the best I have scored”, a cute chip aimed to drop just far enough behind Roman Burki for the goalkeeper to reach at it, but not to save. Kimmich called it “relatively spontaneous”.
It’s a revealing phrase. Bayern had been working on the possibility Burki might at moments be too far off his line. Kimmich is a studious footballer, but open to improvisation: He plays in the midfield, but can be a full-back. Versatility spreads through much of the Bayern squad.
Strength in depth
The top of Bundesliga has a more competitive feel than it has for many of Bayern’s seven titles on the trot. Four points separate second place from fifth, and both Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig have had sustained spells at the top of the table in 2019/20.
But to look at Bayern on current form, and glance at their substitutes’ bench is to wonder if Flick’s Second XI would not be a match for most German opponents. Lucas Hernandez, the France World Cup winner, came on against Dortmund, while Niklas Sule, Corentin Tolisso and Thiago Alcantara are on the way back from injury, as is on-loan Philippe Coutinho.
A treble on the table?
Assuming Bayern maintain their advantage in the
Bundesliga, and the calendar proceeds without any public health risk during the coronavirus crisis, they will be German champions within a month. There are then the last two rounds of the German Cup, in July, with Bayern facing Eintracht Frankfurt for a place in the final against either Leverkusen or fourth-division Saarbrucken.
By August, when Uefa intend to complete the Champions League, Bayern may well own a domestic double, and will have paced themselves more gently towards their European Cup target than rivals from England, Spain or Italy, where football is yet to restart.
That would seem to give Bayern, 3-0 up after the first leg of their last-16 tie against Chelsea, an edge in Europe – if they need it.