Bayern Munich were not able to stage the remarkable comeback they needed at the Allianz Arena to overturn Manchester City’s 3-0 first-leg lead. A dominant first half display failed to produce the required goal and when Erling Haaland made up for his missed penalty by scoring in the 57th minute, Bayern knew deep down their dream was over.
A Joshua Kimmich penalty gave Bayern a 1-1 draw, but it is the English champions, who go through to the semi-finals to face Real Madrid. Here we bring you five takeaways from tonight’s quarter-final.
1. A good 45 minutes let down by finishing
Bayern’s first half display was just what Thomas Tuchel would have demanded and they had Manchester City on the back foot for the majority of the first 45 minutes. The Rekordmeister looked hungry, had pace and penetration and were clearly the better side.
The down-side was they just couldn’t convert their dominance of territory and possession into the much-needed goal that would have potentially opened the floodgates for the three/ four goals they required. Leroy Sané’s gilt edge chance on 17 minutes was inches wide and Kingsley Coman was denied by a good save from Ederson.
Overall though Bayern’s pace by-passed the City midfield on numerous occasions but the killer ball or clinical finish simply eluded them. The goal they needed to ignite the tie just didn’t come in the first half. There was lots of effort and endeavour- just no end result.
2. Kingsley Coman doesn’t have bad games
Bayern’s French winger is a model of consistency in inconsistent times at Bayern. He was on fire in the first half with most of Bayern’s most dangerous moments involving him rampaging down the right at some point.
Aymeric Laporte had to resort to rugby tackling the winger late in the second half, for which the Spaniard was booked. That was however the only way of stopping him in the mood he was in. Coman was simply electric for the entire game and Bayern’s best player on the night.
3. Dayot Upamecano prominent for the wrong reasons
In order to progress Bayern needed an error-free performance, but in the first half in particular Dayot Upamecano found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. He was lucky to see his red card rescinded after bringing down Erling Haaland when through on goal. The Norwegian’s run was marginally offside, which saved the Bayern centreback an early bath.
He then conceded the penalty than fortunately for Bayern Haaland blasted over. He had his hands behind his back in textbook style until he suddenly didn’t and while harsh, it was probably a penalty and could have been costly.
Upamecano had another run-in with Haaland for Manchester City’s goal when his slip allowed the goal-hungry former Dortmund striker to get his shot away to score.
4. The draw saves some pride, but not the tie
Failure to score in the first half cost Bayern their chance to stage a remarkable comeback, but the second half penalty dispatched by Joshua Kimmich at least saved face a little and secured a 1-1 draw on the night for the hosts.
Like the penalty awarded against Upamecano, the decision was perhaps a little harsh, but the Bayern captain made no mistake (unlike Haaland). It will only be a miniscule compensation for all their efforts, but to not lose the game was a tiny plus.
5. What’s going on with the Allianz Arena pitch?
There were quite a few things that went against Bayern tonight with the French referee Clement Turpin being one of them, but the state of the Allianz Arena pitch was another.
The players were slipping all over the place and the City goal came after a slip from Upamecano. If the Champions League is the top level of European football, it deserves a top quality pitch and the Allianz Arena is way below that level. Since NFL matches have been played there, the surface has struggled to recover and the club’s announcement that they are bringing in Wolfsburg greenkeeper Peter Sauer from May 1st has come too late to save their Champions League dreams.
