Vincent Kompany sat there, where he always sits after Bayern Munich’s home games, speaking about his team’s performance. An hour earlier he had experienced the bitterest moment of this season, perhaps even the bitterest in his still-short coaching career in Munich. But anyone who watched Kompany without listening to his words would not have noticed a big difference from all the previous, mostly successful games this season.
There was no dejected coach with visible traces of the missed chance at the Champions League title, this 1:1 in the semi-final second leg against Paris St. Germain (PSG), which meant elimination. Kompany said he had “not the ability to be disappointed for a long time,” to dwell on events that cannot be changed anyway. “I am already quite motivated for the next season.”
To do better than this time, in this match on Wednesday evening in the Munich Arena, where the Bayern did not perform as well as usual. They, as is often the case this season, fell behind, but this time the goal conceded did not unleash the usual energy. On the contrary, Ousmane Dembélé’s 1-0 seemed to impress them; Harry Kane’s stoppage-time equalizer came too late. “We were not killers in the offense,” said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the DAZN interview.
PSG is, at the moment, nevertheless a notch bigger than Bayern. Perhaps because the team of coach Luis Enrique also masters another facet of the game, one that does not align with its character, but can be necessary to be successful. The French, who will now play Arsenal London for the Henkel Cup in Budapest on May 30, proved that they can defend very, very well. “Today our defense was better than the offense,” Enrique stated. PSG largely gave up aggressive pressing and pulled back deep into their own half. Nothing Bayern are used to in the Bundesliga, where almost every opponent plays this way, but it was unexpected, because in this game everyone was anticipating a spectacle similar to the 5-4 for PSG the week before.
The strongest season ever
And then there was also an inexperienced referee in knockout games, who, if in doubt, tended to decide more often in favor of the title defender as in the handball by Nuno Mendes. There was not yellow-red for the already cautioned full-back, but a free-kick for Paris, because Joao Pinheiro previously claimed to have seen a handball by Laimer. But that should not serve as an excuse. “To be successful, you have to deal with different situations,” said Jonathan Tah.
The Bayern tried not to dwell any longer on the unchangeable. “I don’t think that will overturn us or derail us in any way,” said Joshua Kimmich — also with an eye on the DFB-Pokal final in about two weeks against VfB Stuttgart. “This has, I think, been the strongest season we’ve played so far,” Kimmich said. “Stronger than the treble season of 2020, I believe.” “In this consistency, in this way, with such a crew in the locker room — I have rarely experienced that.” Finishing the season with more than one title for the first time since 2020 has a “great relevance,” says the chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen.
This semi-final exit in the Champions League is perhaps another stop on the journey that began with Kompany last season. “We learned something last year, we will learn something from it again this year. And then we will attack again next year,” said sporting director Max Eberl.
A team, then, that has not yet reached its peak? For Kompany, no question: “Basically I am convinced that next season we will take another step.” With a somewhat modified squad, since besides the already fixed departures of Leon Goretzka, Raphael Guerreiro and Nicolas Jackson a few more players who do not belong to the starting XI are to be sold. Kimmich is also sure that this journey will only be interrupted, but not ended. “I sit in the locker room and I feel that with this team we can still win the Champions League.” Not at the end of this month in Budapest, but in a year in Madrid. Perhaps.
