Bayern Munich

There have been rumblings linking Bayern Munich to Bayer Leverkusen attacker Florian Wirtz for more than a year now, but the logistics of a deal getting ...

Will Bayern Munich want Wirtz bad enough in the coming years to go out and get him no matter what the cost? If the Bavarians want a player bad enough, they have proven the willingness to go and get that player. Aside of timing and what is expected to be a massive cost for Wirtz,

How did Bayern beat Barcelona and PSG yet struggle against Augsburg and Leverkusen? The answer might surprise you.

It would not be too surprising if this is the year that Bayern’s Bundesliga dominance comes to a halt, but the team ends up celebrating a different title win come the season’s end. As a result, Bayern fans were treated to some of the best football the team has played this season in the cup competitions, not to mention stellar results. The compounded failure in the cup competitions, plus the insurance of the ten consecutive league titles, somehow causes the team to focus less on the Bundesliga, hence the inconsistent form. It may sound like a cheap excuse, but again, the team is made of humans, not machines. In the Champions League, Bayern are among the favorites, yet in the Bundesliga, they are not top of the table anymore. But in the big three competitions, Bayern have not been that consistent, if not a bit unlucky. Even though winning the Bundesliga deserves just as much fanfare as winning any other major trophy, people are quick to criticize when the team ‘only’ wins the Bundesliga in a single season. Remember how Bayern nullified the best striker in the world against Barcelona only to slump to a defeat to lowly Augsburg? Since the glorious treble in 2020, the only major trophy that Bayern have won in the past three or so years is the Bundesliga. Not a single game of these 11 was unconvincing, with the only possible exceptions being the first half of the home win against Barcelona, and the nervy last half hour of the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain. In truth, the Bundesliga tells only half the story. The Rekordmeister are currently second in the Bundesliga table, having relinquished top spot to [Borussia Dortmund](https://www.fearthewall.com) following a painful 1-2 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich remain in second spot in the Bundesliga table after they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the BayArena.

54' PENALTY - BAYER LEVERKUSEN - A fantastic example of VAR working and working well. It was probably one of the strangest matches Adli has ever played in and given he was at the centre of the penalty drama. This match against a resurgent Bayer Leverkusen was a chance for Bayern to leapfrog Dortmund into top spot but ultimately it's a chance they have failed to take. 20 minutes after the first penalty, Adli was once again brought down inside the penalty area and was once again booked for simulation by the referee. The ball fell to Joshua Kimmich who struck a fierce effort which, with the help of a deflection, found its way past Lukas Hradecky and into the back of the net. Ten minutes into the second half, Frech winger Amine Adli went down inside the penalty area and was booked for simulation despite being clearly fouled.

SportsBrief.com News - Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic is angry at the club's players following their underwhelming performance against ...

[Bayern Munich](https://sportsbrief.com/football/bayern-munich/) 2-1 to put a dent in the Bundesliga champions' defence, [Eurosport ](https://www.eurosport.com/football/bundesliga/2022-2023/bayer-leverkusen-v-bayern-munich-bundesliga-live_sto9513180/story.shtml#:~:text=weekend%27s%20results%2C%20the%20Bundesliga%20title%20race%20couldn%27t%20be%20set%20up)reports. “This is not what FC Bayern is all about. There was so little drive, mentality, duels.

Bayer Leverkusen played with aggression, composure and efficiency to beat Bayern, with Dortmund top going into the international break.

Thomas Letsch is doing better at Bochum though: the 54-year-old’s hearty ”kick and rush” style saw off an [RB Leipzig](https://theathletic.com/football/team/leipzig/) side fresh from their not-so-magnificent 7-0 defeat away to Manchester City in the Champions League last 16. Nagelsmann at first denied that the crossed wires contributed to the defeat and pointed at poor one-v-one stats in attack and defence instead. Not for the first time in this campaign, Bayern’s manager will have to use an international break to think things through. [Europa League](https://theathletic.com/football/europa-league/) trip to Hungary, where they won 2-0 against Ferencvaros and made it to the quarter-finals. [Manchester City](https://theathletic.com/football/team/manchester-city/) outcast continued to play deep, leaving fellow Etihad old boy Leroy Sane unsure of where to go. (This week, it published a couple of pages from his playbook for the game last month against Bochum.) More importantly, why were his team so insipid in a match the players themselves had called “a must-win” beforehand? The result was no pressure whatsoever on Leverkusen’s defence and a back line sitting far too deep. Blaming the players’ attitude, as many Bayern managers and officials have done over the decades, felt rather convenient after such a dishevelled performance. The visitors did get going a bit more towards the end of the game after a raft of substitutions but had no complaints about leaving empty-handed. [Borussia Dortmund](https://theathletic.com/football/team/dortmund/) are top of the table going into the March international break, but that was only one of many ‘Things you never thought you’d see’ on Sunday night’s bingo card. That drubbing was exemplary of Bayern’s ability to focus and raise their game, even amid plenty of dressing room doubts about the coach at the time, and conversely, of Dortmund’s chronic post-Jurgen Klopp flakiness. Alonso’s clever ploy of positioning Andrich between the centre-backs also worked a treat: Bayern’s woeful attempts at winning the ball high were unable to cut out Andrich’s line-breaking passes before the break.

If Leverkusen were a class, our boys would not pass... ooh, that rhymed...

- Leon Goretzka (3 — 3 — 3): I agree with the rating of the three outlets here. - Yann Sommer (3 — 3 — 3): Sommer had a solid performance. [post-game podcast](https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/2023/3/20/23647609/bavarian-podcast-works-s5-e38-bayer-leverkusen-vs-bayern-munich-look-ahead-manchester-city-dortmund)! - Alphonso Davies (4 — 3 — 4): Davies found another Roadrunner who goes by the name Frimpong. - João Cancelo (5 — 4 — 4): 5 is way too rough on Cancelo, in my opinion. - Thomas Müller (4 — 4,5 — 5): Müller tried to replace Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, and just was unfortunate on many occasions. Listen below or [on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/53cWbLNpL7WojsOK7swhjH?go=1&sp_cid=6024ffdb8049fe8a53c9ca8ffb8eff99&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop)! - Matthis de Ligt (4 — 3 — 4): I would go with kicker’s rating here. - Dayot Upamecano (4 — 5 — 5): Collectively, the defense was struggling. - Benjamin Pavard (5 — 4,5 — 5): Copy-paste my take from Upamecano and insert it for Pavard. Bayern’s ratings, on a 1-5 scale (1 being best). [Bayern Munich](https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com) had a tough game this past weekend against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, to say the least.

Hasan Salihamidzic was left furious after Bayern Munich's shock dfeat against Bayer Leverkusen as he slammed the players for a poor show.

When she is lazy and thinks that she can do anything with the playful quality. And she's not as good when she's playing like she is today. This team is so good when they have a mentality from the start and go 100 percent.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (Reuters) -Bayer Leverkusen's Exequiel Palacios scored two second-half penalties to complete a 2-1 comeback victory over visitors Bayern ...

"We did not deserve the first-half lead. "It is clear against Dortmund we have to win, to firstly take over the lead and then hopefully bring the title to Bayern," Nagelsmann said. We did not have the activity we had with the ball in the past weeks," said Nagelsmann.