It might not entirely suffice for not going to the Champions League final in Budapest to take on Arsenal, but Bayern Munich got back in the win column with a 1-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg thanks to a second half wonder strike from Michael Olise. The win was also their first clean sheet in the Bundesliga since the 5-0 at St. Pauli in the beginning of April, though they did record one in the DFB-Pokal semifinal win over Bayer Leverkusen after that. Nonetheless, after the 4-3 win at Mainz and 3-3 draw with Heidenheim
either side of the two legs in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern was overdue for a win and clean sheet in the league.
After the match, Vincent Kompany explained that he was pleased with the continued fight his side showed in both halves that had changes in momentum in different phases. For him, seeing the desire after the overall aggregate loss to PSG and having already won the Bundesliga was a big positive.
“Two different halves. I thought in the first half, maybe the first ten minutes felt like a good start, but on the chances conceded (to Wolfsburg), you have to acknowledge that we struggled in the first half. Then, I thought, still, it takes a lot of strength again and character, especially with the week we’ve had, to come back out in the second half and to fix nearly everything. I thought our second half was much better and that we just looked like a team that wanted to win here, and we did,” the Belgian manager explained to ESPN’s Archie Rhind-Tutt post match.
Jonas Urbig was in goal for the German Rekordmeister and put forth what was quite arguably his best performance in a Bayern shirt since his move from FC Köln — it was on par with his heroics against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League. The 22-year-old registered a total of five saves, the majority of which were top drawer and from close range to keep Bayern’s clean sheet. Speaking on the young keeper’s performance, Kompany was full of admiration for Manuel Neuer’s backup standing firm to the task. “Look, that’s why we have top goalkeepers. Manu is top, Jonas is top, and we even had Sven Ulreich helping us out in the game against [Bayer] Leverkusen making some incredible saves and, you know, we never complain about the goalkeepers from other teams making incredible saves, so I think we have the right to have these types of moments (so many big saves from Urbig). He did really well — he was solid for us.
Lastly, Kompany explained how the squad has done processing the bitter pill of missing out on the Champions League final after the 1-1 draw with PSG at the Allianz Arena with a handful of controversial decisions that went against them. “I think the moment when a game finishes is as tough for anyone. I guess, I’m maybe a little bit older than the players and I know how to place it (the feeling), so you lose and you look back at the game and it’s just fine margins and decisions and moments and — you feel like you didn’t give everything you needed to give, so it’s not something that I let affect me too long. I feel like we’ve got so much still to look forward to and, you know, eventually we’ll have another chance to win the Champions League. You have to respect the competition, the opponents, know that it’s the hardest thing to achieve and just dust yourself off and keep going,” he stressed.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- New, improved notifications system!
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
