Our regular analysis article for the UEFA Champions League game sees Bayern Munich come under the microscope this time around. With Matchday five kicking off a week today (Tuesday 22), we take a look at the makeup of Jupp Heynckes’ side ahead of a crucial home clash with Villarreal that could clinch the Bundesliga giants a place in the knockout stages.
The Tactics
Heynckes employs the same 4-2-3-1 formation that Dortmund and many of Germany’s top-flight tend to use. Having reached the Champions League final just a couple of seasons ago, in all likelihood there are more than a few familiar faces in the current Bayern line-up but due to injury, there is one key omission.
Manuel Neuer was something of contentious summer signing. Booed at his old club Schalke when stating he wanted to leave, booed by his new fans for previously mocking Bayern legend Oliver Kahn, Neuer (1) has finally won over the Bayern fans with a series of performances that has seen him return 15 clean sheets in 20 games across all competitions this season.
Three of the back four pick themselves, with Heynckes often found to alternate the fourth member as he sees appropriate. Philipp Lahm (21), captain for both club and country, is a nailed-on choice on the left flank and immediately to his right is part of the new generation of German stars, Holger Badstuber (28).
Jerome Boateng (17) is more often than not employed at centre-back to pair up with Badstuber, having built up quite a rapport since joining from Manchester City in the summer. As we saw in the Premier League though, Boateng is equally adept at right-back and has been called upon to play there on occasion. This choice is what makes the fourth spot in the Bayern defence so tricky to call – either Rafinha (13) will play at right back or Daniel Van Buyten will start in the centre if Boateng starts on the flank.
In the double pivot, you’ll normally find a combination of Bastian Schweinsteiger (31) plus one more defensive-minded midfielder, with the latter tending to play pretty much level with the Munich full-backs. We say normally, however, as Schweinsteiger broke his collarbone in Matchday Four of the Champions League and will be out of action for a while yet still.
Luis Gustavo (30), Anatoliy Tymoschuk and David Alaba (27) will jostle for the two positions, then, and though none have the creative ability of Schweinsteiger, Alaba, as the above diagram shows, can sometimes fill in on the wing and is perhaps the best bet- certainly he played there in Bayern’s last league game, a 2-1 win at Augsburg.
The trio of attacking midfielders is where Bayern really come to life. Winner of the Golden Boot and Best Young Player award at last year’s World Cup, Thomas Mueller (25), is invariably to be found attacking down the right hand side and coming infield with calculated levels of abandon.
On the opposite side of midfield is Franck Ribery (7) – he’s there hiding under Alaba’s (27). Now in his fifth year at the Allianz Arena, Ribery has excelled domestically this season with 6 goals and 6 assists but has failed to carry that form onto the European stage, with just a single assist from his four appearances.
The newest filling at the centre of the Mueller and Ribery sandwich is that of Toni Kroos (39), who has been revelling in a prolonged starting spell in the Munich starting line-up. That is mainly down to an injury to Arjen Robben, with the Dutchman unable to start a game since mid-August. When fit, though, one would expect Robben to return on the right, with Kroos and Mueller battling it out for the central position.
Finally, up top is a man who just seems unable to stop scoring right now- Mario Gomez (33). Whether in the Bundesliga or abroad, Gomez has never failed to deliver, with ex-Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfield going so far as to claim that Gomez is as important to Bayern as Lionel Messi is for Barcelona.
No-one can compare the two like for like or even put Gomez on the same pantheon as the wee Argentinian, but with 19 goals already this season (Messi has 23 so far in all competitions this term, by the way) his importance is obvious. The fact he hasn’t been included in this year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist is a snub I have personally admitted to being quite perturbed by.
The Ones To Watch
Jerome Boateng: Alongside Rafinha, he is the joint-cheapest (just 6.2) defensive option in the resolute Munich back-four. Boateng has played every minute of the Champions League campaign and is the top-scoring Bayern defender in the game so far.
Franck Ribery: As mentioned above, just 1 assist in four UCL games to date this season belies his mesmerising form away from the European fold. Enjoying one of his most prolific seasons to date in the Bundesliga, it is about time the Frenchman carries some of that over to the continent and reaped rewards for his European Fantasy backers. I don’t hesitate to let it be known I am one of those very souls.
Toni Kroos: Having risen in price from 6.5 to 7.1 already this season with 2 goals and an assist, there’s no reason to think this young German midfielder is suddenly going to go off the boil. Kroos has stepped up to the task of replacing Robben in the starting XI and with 24 points, has returned double the tally of Ribery.
Mario Gomez: Put the big man up front right now and he’ll get you some kind of reward. Third only to Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the forward charts of the UCL Fantasy Game, all 5 of Gomez’s goals have come at home so far- Villarreal will be more than apprehensive of the damage he may cause next Tuesday.
