When the Bundesliga schedule was first confirmed and it became clear Schalke 04 would host Bayern Munich on jut the second Bundesliga matchday, the expectation was that Die Königsblauen would be swept aside rather convincingly. After all, the team’s last meeting, three years ago, ended 6-0 to Bayern. That was under Thomas Tuchel’s inconsistent Bayern. What could Kompany & Co do?
Stutter to a 0-0 draw, that is what. A dour Bayern team struggled to get out of second gear and really punish a defensively
solid Schalke, who celebrate their first point since their return to the Bundesliga. Here are some observations on the match:
Bayern initially dominate tepid Schalke
It is easy to forget after the match, but the first 15 minutes completely belonged to Bayern. The Bavarians’ counterpress utterly suffocated the hosts, who simply could not exit their own half in those minutes. The team pinged the ball around, kept it well and utterly annihilated any counter attacks.
But, in what would become an unfortunate running theme throughout the match, the passing was far too slow and the players seemed unsure of their positions. One of Bayern’s most important strengths is their ability to move the ball quickly from side to side. Players know their positions, know how to move the ball on and ping it back and forth. This forces the opposition defense to move side to side, which opens up space in the middle and opportunities to score.
This was missing today. It was clear that the chemistry among forwards Nathaniel Brown, Ismael Saibari and Lennart Karl was missing, but regulars such as Konrad Laimer, Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano also struggled to really get into the flow of things. It was possible to overcome these issues (Nathaniel Brown, after all, would still have given Bayern the lead if it had not been for a phenomenal save by Loris Karius in the Schalke goal) and perhaps the players would have grown into the match more.
But then Schalke woke up…
Miron Muslić’s Schalke
Schalke 04 has been on an incredible roller coaster ride in recent years. From playing in the Champions League to going hundreds of millions of euros into debt to nearly breaking the record for longest Bundesliga streak of matches without a win to getting relegated, things have been terrible for the club. Things so nearly reached a nadir in the 2024/25 season, in which Schalke finished 14th and survived relegation to the 3. Liga by the skin of their teeth. It could be argued that such a relegation would have finished the club off financially and seen their situation become unsalvageable. One of Germany’s biggest clubs narrowly avoided dying off entirely.
So when Schalke aimed to return to their former by hiring defensively minded Miron Muslić, fresh off of relegation from the England’s second tier, the Championship, with Plymouth Argyle, the reaction from fans was understandably angry. Was this really the best candidate? A guy who was just relegated to the third division, a guy who plays defensive football? Why not go get hotshot manager Christian Titz, who was available then?
A year later, Muslić is essentially Schalke’s Messiah. Schalke rebounded incredibly in the 2025/26 season, clinging first to defensively minded football before somehow seamlessly switching to attacking minded football once reinforcements arrived in January to easily win the 2. Bundesliga. Beyond just achieving promotion against all odds, it is that incredible variety of play Muslić instilled at Schalke that has made him so beloved.
That is how they blunted Bayern
Schalke had been very poor in the opening 15 minutes against Bayern, meekly surrendering possession time and time again. But, as they have done so well under Muslić, they adapted accordingly. They snapped into challenges more. They sent more runners to challenge CB duo Upamecano and Jonathan Tah. And slowly, they managed to break Bayern’s hold over the game. It became more stretched, giving Bayern less possession in the final third of the pitch and further limiting a porous Bayern’s ability to break through their defense. Bayern finished the first half with just 4 shots in total.
Bayern still should have won the game…
Bayern were slow, barely got out of second gear, Schalke did so well and yet Bayern still should have ended this game as winners. The second half saw Bayern emerge with much more focus and determination, bringing the kind of speed to the play that had been missing. That, more than the introduction of Harry Kane, saw the Bavarians pin Schalke again. Further introduction of Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise saw the team increase the pressure, the speed and the lethality of play. Every one of the forwards missed huge opportunities, with Luis Díaz the main culprit. The team racked up over 2 xG and barely allowed Schalke to create anything, yet walked away with nothing more than one point.
…but Schalke also earned the draw
Can you remember the last time a team held Bayern to no goals at all in the Bundesliga? It was the 0-0 draw in February 2024 against Bayer Leverkusen, a match which the Bavarians quickly banished to a distant memory by trouncing the same opponents 5-0 on aggregate in a few weeks’ time. Today, Schalke became just the second team to blunt Bayern in over two and a half years. They needed some luck and some huge misses to make it work, but they earned this point nonetheless. Their adaptation following their meek start was admirable, their attitude never faltered even when Bayern really started going up the gears, they rode their fans’ energy to the end and they adapted yet again to kill Bayern’s momentum towards the end of the match.
In the final 20 minutes, Schalke conceded just 3 long range shots as Bayern impotently ran against a blue wall. One such shot from Kane required a huge save from Karius, but Die Rekordmeister simply could not create any big opportuntiies in the end, when the pressure on the hosts was the highest. This was Schalke’s true welcome back to the Bundesliga. Bayern’s anguish is their elation. Fair play, Schalke.
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