Bayern Munich is moving away from winning the league title. It suffered a shock defeat to Werder Bremen at home this time. Munich lost 0-1 to Bremen in the 18th round of the German Bundesliga in the 2023-24 season at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on the 21st (Korea time).
The defeat prevented Munich from narrowing the gap with league leader Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen won 3-2 in an away match against RB Leipzig ahead of Munich and Bremen thanks to Piero Incapier’s theatrical final goal in the second half. Leverkusen remained unbeaten as both the league leader and unbeaten.
Leverkusen is currently top of the league with 48 points, while Munich, which has no points against Bremen, has 41 points. Although Munich has yet to play one game, it is not easy to catch up with the seven-point gap. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the same result as the one against Bremen, who were confident of winning, will not be repeated.
It was also not that Munich saved its power against Bremen. Munich put Harry Kane on the front line and assigned Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Kingsley Coman to support Kane in the second line. Rafael Geheiro and Joshua Kimmich stood in the third line. The defense was composed of Alfonso Davis, Matheys D’Richt, Dayo Upamecano, and Konrad Reimer. Manuel Neuer kept the goal. 토토사이트 순위
Munich led the game by increasing possession from the beginning. However, they lacked sharpness in attack. Kane at the front line and Mussiala at the back did not perform well. This season, Munich tends to rely on Kane to score, but when Kane did not burst, they did not score.
In contrast, Bremen attacked Munich with a clear counterattack. After blocking Munich’s attack in the 24th minute of the first half, Bremen attempted a quick counterattack, and Mitchell Weiser’s shot threatened the Munich goal. Weiser’s shot deflected off Davis and headed for the Munich goal. Had it not been for Neuer’s defense, Munich could have allowed Bremen the first goal relatively early.
Bremen’s counterattack was harsh. Bremen attempted counterattack again in the 25th minute of the first half, and this time succeeded in shaking Munich’s net. Justin Njima drove the ball to the Munich defense. After successfully dribbling, Njima scored with a right footed shot to break through the Munich net.
However, a VAR later ruled that a foul had been committed in a previous situation, and Eun Jin-ma’s score was canceled. Munich breathed a sigh of relief, but it was negative that it finished the first half 0-0 without a significant attack.
Munich ended up conceding the first goal to Bremen in the second half. In the 14th minute of the second half, Bremen attempted a long pass from the back to break down Munich’s defense, and Weiser’s left footed shot from the right side of the box hit Munich’s goal. After the loss, Munich called in Kimich, Geheiro, and Davis and threw in Matisse Tell, Leon Goretzka, and Thomas Müller at once.
However, Munich’s substitution card failed. Tell, Goretzka, and Müller all failed to show significant performances. In the end, Munich was further out of the race for the title, as it suffered a 0-1 shock defeat to Bremen at home. The defeat was all the more significant because Bremen was in the bottom half of the group before the match against Munich.
Analysts say the team failed to take advantage of the opportunity. According to the “Port Mob” record, Munich took 68 percent of possession in this match, connecting seven of its 22 shots with effective shooting. There was one big chance, but it failed to score. It also had 10 corner kicks, which had more set piece chances than Bremen (2), but failed to score a goal.
Kane also showed sluggish performance, the main striker. Out of the three shots, Kane succeeded in shooting one shot on target, 23 touches, a success rate of 83 percent, zero ground contention (one attempt), and one aerial contention (two attempts). “Port Mob” gave Kane six points, the lowest rating among Munich players. However, Munich did not miss Kane during the game, and played full time for Kane.
Of course, the competition for the league’s championship is not over yet, but the defeat will inevitably come as a big blow to Munich as each game has a big impact on the championship competition. Since Leverkusen has been on a roll with 15 wins and 3 draws in 18 games since the opening, it is negative that it has not been able to raise the atmosphere for Munich. Munich still has a chance. However, it should hope that Leverkusen will slip away by winning most of its upcoming matches.
With this defeat, attention has been paid to whether Kane is irrelevant or not. Kane, who has been considered one of the world’s top strikers since Tottenham Hotspur’s days, was his career without any trophies. Kane has excellent skills, but he has never won a championship throughout his team’s career.
There was a time when I was close to winning the championship. Under Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham finished second in the Premier League and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League. However, Tottenham was never close to winning the title since then. In fact, it was Kane’s last chance to win the title at Tottenham.
The same holds true for the Korean national team. Despite being called the golden generation, the English national team has only won the title at the 1966 FIFA World Cup in its own country. Kane again failed to win the title as a runner-up at the last UEFA European Championship 2020.
The championship was partly attributable to Kane’s decision to move to Munich. He believes that if he visits Munich, he will have a higher chance of winning the title. Munich is a team that is close to winning the title every season, as if it were a meal. Munich, which has the most wins in the Bundesliga, has never missed a league title from the 2012-13 season to the 2022-23 season. It could have given Borussia Dortmund the title the previous season, but it turned the tables at the end of the season and achieved its 11th consecutive league title.
However, there has been a palpable atmosphere this season. Munich started the season as a runner-up, losing 0-3 to Leipzig in the DFL-Super Cup ahead of the season’s opening, and was eliminated from the tournament in a 1-2 defeat by Zarbrücken, who was far apart in power. On top of that, the league is losing ground to Leverkusen, who has been showing good pace under coach Xavi Alonso.
If the current trend continues, Kane will not be able to break his record in Munich after Tottenham. He came to Munich to win, but he did not win, which was unimaginable even when Kane chose to go to Munich. Although he advanced to the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, there is still a lot of time left to see him win. We have to focus on the league right now, but we have to go to the Champions League at the same time, so coach Thomas Tuchel will have a lot of worries.