One thing that sets apart Bayern Munich from other football clubs is that they host matches with fan club teams from time to time, allowing the fans a chance to play against their idols. This year, Bayern traveled to Imst in Tyrol, Austria, to play against the Red Eagles Austria.
Since the game kicked off less than 24 hours after Bayern’s Bundesliga opener against RB Leipzig, Vincent Kompany naturally excluded every single starter from the night before, except Jonathan Tah, for some reason. The only
other first team players who started were Sacha Boey, Kim Min-jae, Aleksandar Pavlović, Raphäel Guerreiro, Lennart Karl, and Sven Ulreich, who donned the captain’s armband. The rest of the team was composed of youngsters from Bayern’s U-19s. Players like Jonah Kusi-Asare, Cassiano Kiala, and Wisdom Mike were left out of the squad, for they were playing a Regionalliga game for Bayern II at the same time.
The Red Eagles put up a surprisingly good show, and even came closer to scoring than Bayern themselves. Ulreich was called into action a few times and even had to make a strong save, not to mention getting bailed out by the crossbar. After 13 minutes, Kompany pulled all of his first teamers bar Ulreich, so the entire outfield squad was composed of U-19 players from then on. The score remained deadlocked until the half hour mark, when 17-year old German winger Aristide Hentcho Nseke opened the scoring to give Bayern a 1-0 lead at halftime.
It took another half hour after the restart for Bayern to double their lead, this time through a rather soft penalty, converted by Dutch teenager Roy Snip. But the stadium erupted four minutes later when the Red Eagles scored a historic goal when Hannes Wibmer capitalized on some shoddy defending following a set piece. While Bayern soon restored their two goal advantage through Germany youth international Sadiki Chemwor, it did little to dampen the Red Eagles’ spirits. There was also another historical moment when Sophia Schweighofer was subbed on to become the first ever woman to play in a Bayern Dream Match.
The game ended 3-1 to Bayern. None of the first team players, other than the ones who started the game, saw the pitch. While it may have been slightly disappointing for the fans, it was for good reason – Bayern has two away trips to Wiesbaden (DFB-Pokal) and Augsburg (Bundesliga) in the coming week, and with an already thin squad, there was no point in Kompany risking any of his starters. That said, would a five minute cameo from the big boys have hurt?
But the fans did not let it spoil the mood; rather, they celebrated the goal they scored as if they had won the Champions League final. What a story to tell the kids.
Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig locked horns for what was anticipated as a clash of titans to raise the curtain for the forthcoming Bundesliga season, but what followed was a massacre of Biblical proportions. Bayern had looked shaky in their last few outings, and Leipzig had a lot to prove after some big changes in the team, which meant that both teams, while possessing some massive talents, had chips on their shoulders and something to strive towards.
Helping us dissect the corpse left in Bayern’s wake is Rayyan (Cyler), returning to the pod after a lengthy hiatus to perform some semblance of autopsy, although it seems this game was far more about the pure joy of watching what happened than picking apart the details of what actually did happen. In this edition, we feature:-
- A run-down of the starting XI and shape of both teams.
- The series of events that led to the defining moments of the game, and patterns from before that re-emerged.
- Some final (giddy) thoughts of what this Bayern team could look like going forward.
- A lot, a lot, a lot, of uncontrollable giddy giggling at the mere thought of this match’s existence (sorry).
Also, be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Check us out on Patreon and follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @BavarianPodcast @TheBarrelBlog, @rayyantwt, @2012nonexistent, @TommyAdams71 and more.
