A familiar tale of wasted chances and conceding goals via counter attacks.
That was painful. There was no other way to describe it. Let’s head into the match awards from Bayern Munich’s 2-1 loss to Inter Milan:
Jersey Swap: Alessandro Bastoni
Both of Inter Milan’s goals came from stellar pieces of individual play and, in general, the Italian champions were really good throughout the match. But there was only one man who could have won this award and it was center back Alessandro Bastoni. The 25-year-old Italian dominated in every possible manner, from his incredible ease on the ball and ability to bypass Bayern’s press to his incredible alertness during every Bayern attack to his tenacity and willingness to do anything to stop Bayern from getting a goal. How many shots did Bastoni block today? Three? Four? Even five? It was that last block from very close range on Kane in added time that truly sealed Inter’s win on the night and it has to be said that Bastoni put in a performance that fully merited a victory.
Der Kaiser: Konrad Laimer
After having a rather poor outing on the weekend against Augsburg, Konrad Laimer went a long way to making up for it with a spirited and powerful performance today. He caused Inter a lot of problems early on as he combined with Olise, consistently won his battles on the right side and was even put in the cross for Bayern’s lone goal.
Urbig also deserves a shout out for his incredible passing on the night, with the team’s best early chances coming from some pinpoint long passing that even Neuer would be jealous of.
Der Fußballgott: Joshua Kimmich
Pretty simple, this. Joshua Kimmich pulled the strings in midfield today, as he has done throughout the season and as he has done for years at this club and will do for years to come. He also got the hockey assist for the goal. Meanwhile, Leon Goretzka and Raphaël Guerreiro hardly set the world alight.
Der Bomber: Thomas Müller
It just had to be. The entire match, it seemed the whole stadium was waiting for the Bayern legend’s inevitable introduction. Guerreiro did his part by putting in an anonymous shift and so Thomas Müller entered the field to an raucous roar of delight from the home fans. He immediately started moving, probing, getting into areas that had Inter players looking over their shoulders. All of a sudden, Kimmich’s passes were aimed at Müller’s enterprising runs. As if to fit the script, Inter defenders were less sure of themselves. Müller had already had one chance desperately blocked away before it happened.
Then what everyone knew would happen, happened. A cross came into the box and Müller found the perfect spot, unmarked, to bundle the ball across the line. What a perfect goal in the perfect moment. A shame that it was then forgotten about minutes later.
Meister of the Match: Michael Olise
What a journey it has been for Michael Olise at Bayern. And he has not even been here an entire year. The 23-year-old Frenchman has gone from level to level during his time at Bayern and we saw some of his best work at Bayern in the opening 30 minutes. Bayern dominated for large stretches of the 30 minutes and every consequent action from that dominance came from Olise’s dancing feet. Guerreiro missed a chance. Harry Kane missed one. And another. Olise had a few dangerous tries himself.
He was not quite able to reach that stratospheric level as consistently after the first 30 as service dried up for him, but the former Crystal Palace player’s twinkle toed shenanigans constantly worried the opposition and he could always be counted on to do something with the ball. He even played his part in the goal.
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