Has Bayern Munich traumatized Lamine Yamal? That is the question when one hears Yamal yap once again saying that he doesn’t watch Bayern because they are too good for their opponents in Germany or even in the Champions League.
In an interview with Moviestar Plus, Yamal was asked whether he watches the games of other top clubs like Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern. While the former two are on his watchlist, his reply about Bayern is interesting to say the least.
“To be honest, I really don’t
like watching Bayern matches. Because in their league, I already know they will always be very dominant. I know it. Even in the league phase of the Champions League I don’t watch them because they dominate a lot. After that against PSG, it was a great game. But in the league phase I don’t like watching them because they’re very dominant over the opponent,” said Yamal(as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Since Yamal already knows Bayern is seemingly always going to be dominant ,let us take a look into why Die Rekordmeister makes games so predictable for the young Spaniard.
Bayern is, indeed, a dominant team
Dominance is the club’s philosophy. It was not very long ago when Bayern crushed the entire Champions League with 43 goals across 11 games in a reduced knockout phase due to COVID. The 2019/20 season saw Bayern impose its will on every single opponent. Barcelona was the biggest victim of the Bavarian bulldozing run. The 8-2 single-leg quarterfinals defeat is one the Catalans’ most humiliating defeats in the club’s history.
On top of this, the Bundesliga is considered by some to be much faster in comparison to the La Liga. As a result, the teams create more chances and are vulnerable to concede more than the Spanish parked buses. Real Madrid is one of the few teams that can play very fast on the counter. Los Blancos, in fact, conserves energy sometimes at the cost of domestic games in order to go all out in the midweek European games.
Scoring over control
Admittedly, Bayern is a possession hungry side and dominate control in their games. But, the manner of control is rarely side to side or back passing for long periods of time. The Bavarians are very much attack coded and love to send every pass to cut the opposition.
The style of play yielded a lot of chances with Bayern creating 166 big chances over 34 games in the league last season (Fotmob). Barcelona on the other hand created a respectable 161 big chances across 38 games. This relatively close gap cannot ignore the huge German factor, that is former Bayern coach Hansi Flick who is the current manager of Barca. The team below Barcelona is Real Madrid with just 118 big chances followed by Atletico at 115.
The huge gulf of 43 chances and La Liga having 4 more games makes the Flick factor all the more important. On the German side of things, the teams second and third in chance creation are Bayer Leverkusen at 125 and RB Leipzig at 124. Both these teams clear Real Madrid and Atletico comfortably in far fewer games.
Bayern doesn’t like narrow wins
A win is always a win, but if Bayern believes it has superior attacking ability, then a narrow win is a subpar result. The quarterfinals game against Real Madrid is clear proof of this mentality. Michael Olise’s goal was a good example.
Ahead by a goal on aggregate and the final whistle moments away, Olise just had to run to the corner and wait it out. But, the Frenchman flew to the edge of penalty box and beat Ferland Mendy and keeper Andriy Lunin with curling shot for a goal. That score was a statement of authority, self-belief, and confidence. A 6-4 win over the two legs after fumbling chances was satisfactory against their fiercest rivals.
But, the factors that make Bayern so effective also make proportionate upkeep a tricky requirement. The injuries towards the business end of the season are rarely just luck. Pushing hard every game throughout the season means you need relatively more rest and ideally, more personnel than other teams to sustain the game load. That has been one area that has historically held Bayern back from making even the Champions League a nearly predictable watch.
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