Luis Enrique had not been in a particularly good mood in recent days. At least that was the impression from afar that PSG’s coach gave. And it wasn’t due to his team’s performances, but to how outsiders viewed the situation. Vincent Kompany, his Bayern colleague, was also busy defending his tactics and his playing style. It is a bit risky, but it has — as Bayern’s 4-5 perspective in the Bavarians’ first leg of the Champions League semifinal last week shows — a high entertainment value. Or as Bayern sporting director Max Eberl put it: “To put it bluntly, perversely awesome.”
Perhaps it belongs to the laws of football to indulge in the art only at the first moment, and then immediately start nagging again. To highlight what isn’t so good, instead of taking pleasure in the beauty. When many goals are scored, defense always comes into focus. Or the tactics. “We can also have games where the defense dominates. They win 1-0 with corner goals,” Eberl said over the weekend — and his facial expression indicated that he didn’t think much of it.
Enrique let critics know that it isn’t important to respect every opinion, especially “when it’s a shitty opinion.” Kompany expressed himself a little more floridly, but perhaps he secretly agreed with his colleague. For the eleven goals Bayern have conceded in the past three games, there are good explanations, but no excuses. It is “a special phase with special games we have to contend with,” said Eberl.
In any case, both coaches will not dare to show up differently in the return leg this Wednesday in Munich. “We don’t want to lose what makes us strong,” said Kompany. “In the end we just want to win; we will use the means we have.” But clearly, he also stressed that there are “details we must improve” in order to win and reach the final in Budapest. “The team has shown in Paris that it can weather setbacks,” Bayern chief Jan-Christian Dreesen said in an interview on the club’s own website. Their home stadium is hard to storm. “And that is exactly what Paris should feel from the opening whistle.”
One of the details Kompany highlighted is not to leave the full-backs exposed as Josip Stanišić was in Paris. That he would be almost hopeless in a sprint duel with the very fast Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was clear. He would have needed more support there, but Michael Olise has, at Parc des Princes, rather neglected this role, focusing more successfully on his offensive actions. On the other side, the defense worked a bit better, though the tireless Luis Díaz also worked hard going backward. A small advantage for Bayern in this return leg may be that Achraf Hakimi is out injured. And with an eye toward possible extra time on Wednesday, Kompany’s side at Parc des Princes appeared fitter, more dynamic in the final stages than PSG.
Another detail concerns the midfield, which in Paris, on both sides, was often just spectators to the quick back-and-forth because the ball wasn’t centered but already distributed along the defensive line. Eberl spoke of a “quite open approach.” Bringing structure to the chaos will be the task of Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović.
Eberl looked back to last season, recalled the 1-4 defeat at FC Barcelona in the Champions League group stage. Also in October 2024, the style of the then-new Bayern coach Kompany had been criticized as far too risky. And afterward “we had, I think, eight games without conceding,” the sporting director noted. There were seven, though, but the defeat had prompted Kompany at the time to reduce the risk somewhat, without changing the overall concept. Sometimes, Eberl says, things happen in a game “that are not planned.” Because: “Football is a game of mistakes.” And whoever makes fewer mistakes usually wins.
