Champions League: Bayern Munich finally crack in Manchester

Manchester City 3-0 Bayern Munich
(Rodrigo 27', Silva 70', Haaland 76')
Etihad Stadium, Manchester

The oblivious block of a goal-bound header. The scuffed shot. The sensational strike from an unlikely source. The striker that got away. The season hanging in the balance. The fine margins.

"We were punished in the phases in which we were better, and then the momentum tips ..." reflected Thomas Tuchel after a 3-0 loss in rainy Manchester that, while harsh, ultimately exposed Bayern Munich's weaknesses in both boxes, and more global trends in modern professional football.

After a German Cup exit where they failed to take their chances against Freiburg and an uneven Bundesliga season that leaves a patchy Borussia Dortmund with a chance of winning the title, Tuchel faces something akin to a crisis less than a fortnight into his new role.

Almost any loss counts as such in this particular job. Nevertheless, the man who beat City with Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final was upbeat on his return to England.

"I refuse to criticize our performance," he insisted. "I saw a great performance for 60 minutes, I was absolutely satisfied, and we deserved more. We'll see, football is football, and nothing is ever over. I’m in love with my team today."

Dias delivers, Rodri rises

Before the match, City's Ruben Dias forecast that, in a clash between such well-honed winning machines, "the detail will be the difference." The Portuguese then proved himself both a top-class defender and a psychic in a minute or so that defined the first half.

After 26 minutes of 50-50 possession, high-end probing, prodding and pressing at both ends of the pitch, Leroy Sane carved out some space for Jamal Musiala in the box. But, with goalkeeper Ederson wrongfooted, Dias dived in to block the goalbound effort.

Seconds later, Ederson's opposite number, Yann Sommer, was beaten by a sublime Rodri curler.

"The Freiburg shot flies in [in the German Cup last week], Rodri's shot flies in tonight, they're not even half chances," laughed Tuchel. "Of course, in hindsight, you can defend anything better, maybe Joshua [Kimmich] was a bit too deep, but it was City's defensive midfielder on his weaker foot, and when that flies in, what can you do?"

The German coach knows as well as Dias that these are the margins on which these games, and this tournament rest. He's been here before.

Bayern pay for their own mistakes

Sommer has not. The Swiss stopper, deputizing for Manuel Neuer, showed his good side with a crucial save while prone on the ground to deny Ilkay Gündogan before tipping over a John Stones volley after the break.

But he was also indecisive, involved in a comedy of errors that also gripped Dayot Upamecano, who struggled to regain any composure. Bayern survived this time.

But not for long. Erling Haaland, who'd spent most of the match lurking on the periphery like a sullen teenager at his parents' dinner party got free in the box, pulled back his left foot and, well, didn't shoot. Instead, he floated up a perceptive ball for Bernardo Silva to head home at the back post.

Same planet, different worlds

Moments before that, Bayern's fans had raised a banner opposing the presence of "autocrats," including City's Sheikh Mansour, of Abu Dhabi, in football.

"Sheikh Mansour!" chanted the grateful home fans in response, as Haaland set up the goal.

The whole scene reflected the wider debate about football club ownership and the future of the game but, without the influx of such money into the English Premier League, Haaland may well have been wearing a Bayern shirt on Tuesday.

Those Bayern fans with the banner probably wouldn't change that though – another subtle but key difference between the clubs tonight, who inhabited the same planet, but different worlds.

Fine margins

Back on the pitch, if the first half had been about the fine margins, the last 20 minutes became about keeping the margin down, as City stepped up their relentless press, finding the line-splitting passes and seeming to gain fitness as the rain-lashed game progressed.

"We adjusted something and in the last part of the game we were better," explained City boss Pep Guardiola. Simple as that.

Soon, it was three, John Stones nodding down for Haaland to volley home from close range. He doesn’t stay on the periphery for long. "He's always a threat," said his coach.

City are convinced they won't stay on the periphery of this tournament either. The Champions League has been the holy grail for the club and its Catalan coach, who last won it in 2011, since the UAE takeover. Bayern have won it twice since then. Yet their grip on the Bundesliga has meant its status is equally critical to them.

Like Tuchel, Guardiola accepted Bayern probably didn't deserve to be in the position they find themselves ahead of the return leg in Munich next week. And he also warned of the threat Bayern can pose, even when on the ropes.

He was being respectful, as he must. And Joshua Kimmich still exuded confidence, as he must.

"It sounds strange but we’ve seen that we can match them and that we can win," he insisted, truthfully. "It was a game on a very high level, which makes the result so bitter. The first half gave us confidence because we saw there was space, that we had chances."

That Bayern can match City for periods of a game is clear. Whether they can match them in the moments where it really matters, and financially in the long term, is a somewhat more fraught question for the Germans.

Edited by Matt Ford