The injuries have exacted a toll on the Bavarians.
Selection headaches and their consequences reared their ugly heads in Bayern Munich’s 2-1 home defeat to Inter Milan on Tuesday. It’s begging the question: do the Bavarians have enough gas in the tank — and players — to finish this season strong?
Head coach Vincent Kompany had only four senior team outfield players available outside of his starting XI — and a three-game stretch that includes both Champions League legs and Der Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund in between. And on Tuesday, in the first of those games, it really showed.
The woes were biggest at outside-back. Gone are world-class speedster Alphonso Davies and the stable and skilled Hiroki Itō. When defender Kim Min-jae — on a yellow — had to be subbed off, midfielder Konrad Laimer shuttled to left-back, full-back Josip Stanišić shifted to center-back, and Sacha Boey arrived at right-back. Laimer found himself with the ball on the wrong foot in attack, and Boey…had a clanker of a game, culminating in the moments that led to Inter’s second goal:
Right-back completely vacates defense of his flank
— Bavarian Football Works (@bavarianfbworks.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T20:50:18.211Z
Konrad Laimer was threatening as usual going forward at right-back. But it looked much more awkward for him once he was shifted to the left, and even from the start the spaces in and behind him were targeted repeatedly with success by the clinical Nerazzurri (hello, Marcus Thuram). Goretzka was assigned to drop in almost as a third center-back on the right side early on in the game — the kind of role it is harder to imagine João Palhinha managing, a knock-on effect from defense spilling into midfield.
The Serie A side appeared to demonstrate just how easy it can be to score on Bayern if you want — despite a strong defensive record overall this season, one which was earned prior to the injuries.
Inter have basically sat deep in the second half. No interest in attacking. Then Bayern scored. So Inter marched up the pitch and scored a second with remarkable ease. This Bayern defence is a mess.
— Stefan Bienkowski (@sbienkowski.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T20:47:59.540Z
If Bayern doesn’t get healthier fast, the options will remain as limited and makeshift. That won’t make the second leg easy, or anything after that if Bayern manages to pull through.
But that’s just one — admittedly negative — way of looking at it. What do you think? Are there positives here, like the Stanišić display in his two starts on the left? Does Bayern have enough manpower to make it through this season on defense?
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich disappointing performance during a 2-1 loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League? Great, then check out the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
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