Palhinha’s straight red certainly made Bayern’s job a lot more difficult, but you win and lose as a team.
Bayern Munich’s 125th birthday celebrations were spoiled at the Allianz Arena as they suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of VfL Bochum after having lead the match 2-0 inside the first half hour. Bayern went into the halftime interval 2-1 up, but they were forced to play the second half with 10 men after João Palhinha saw a straight red card for a stamp on Bochum’s Georgios Masouras in a 50/50 challenge where the Portuguese international did clearly win the ball first before any contact on the Bochum player.
The red card, compounded with the amount of rotations Vincent Kompany made in between the first and second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Bayer Leverkusen, opened the door for Bochum and they took full advantage, striking twice in the second half to go on and record a historic win. Thankfully for Bayern, Leverkusen also lost to Werder Bremen in a simultaneous kickoff.
There was controversy surrounding Palhinha’s straight red since the midfielder certainly made a play on the ball and only caught Masouras on the follow through with little time to be able to do anything about it. As unlucky as the decision was for Palhinha and Bayern, it did still endanger the safety of an opposition player by letter of the law and it was just a bitter pill to swallow, especially since Bochum’s 3rd goal came on the heels of a controversial non-penalty call for Harry Kane at the other end before Matus Bero fired in the winner for the visitors.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Per information from ESPN Tz’s Flo Schimak (via @iMiaSanMia), Palhinha left the Allianz Arena before the rest of the Bayern players after the match, presumably under the weight of immense frustration at the red card and loss. Despite the emotion the midfielder was justifiably feeling, he said that the decision from the referee has to be respected and he will now miss up to three Bundesliga matches for Bayern.
It’s a tough blow for the Portuguese midfielder, as his chances under Kompany have been few and far between with the presence of Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlović, and Leon Goretzka in Bayern’s midfield depth. Still, though, there is plenty of football left this season and certainly more of a part for him to play as Bayern pushes for two titles.
Need to talk through the match? Yeah, us too. Listen with us in this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works Postgame Show and share your thoughts in the comments about a shock 2-3 home defeat at the Allianz that spoiled Bayern Munich’s 125th anniversary celebrations. Tune in on Spotify or the player below:
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