In an expressive, terrifying nightmare, Bayern Munich suffered a setback during its visit to Frankfurt, thrashed by the ambition, the counterattack, the strength and the conclusive display of Eintracht (5-1), which surpassed any expectations of its rival, whose disaster affected the entire team from the beginning to the end, including Thomas Tuchel.
An accident, perhaps something more, for the German champion. An extraordinary defeat, due to excessiveness, also due to quality, for Bayern, three points behind the leadership of Bayer Leverkusen. Much more so if a meeting of this Saturday’s caliber is taken as a reference, in which it almost never existed. Not even the team. Nor any individuality. Neither does Kane. Not even Sané. Not even Coman. Not even Choupo Moting. Not even Kimmich, despite his goal. Nobody was up to the task.
Their first defeat this season in the Bundesliga. Unrecognizable, surpassed in every sector, in every situation, in every quality that football demands, he was almost always a ghost in Frankfurt. In defense, in the middle and in attack. In his area and in the opposite area. Also in the transition. A team whose unquestionable dimension was called into question with three goals in just over half an hour that was more than resounding. He didn’t react.
The 3-0 was already conclusive in the 36th minute in favor of Eintracht. He not only appeased Bayern, but went much further. He attacked it, devoured it, destroyed it. In that section. Not after. The disbelief of Manuel Neuer, the inconceivable turnovers of Kimmich, the disappearance of Coman, the inconsequentiality of Harry Kane, the defensive vulnerability…
Failures, gestures, concessions or descriptive circumstances to portray Bayern’s first stretch in Frankfurt. A thunderous crash. From the 1-0 of Maroush, who took advantage of the rebound from the crossbar of Chaibi’s shot, after an error by Mazraoui, to the 3-0 of Larsson, who received a ‘pass’ from Kimmich to activate a counterattack that he also completed , with a dribble with the right, with a subtle touch with the left, with Upamecano overwhelmed.
In that review, between one moment and another, Dina Ebimbe’s 2-0, in the 30th minute, which left Kim Min Jae in a bad place, the complete opposite of Knauff. He won the fight, even though he was at a disadvantage. And then she connected with his partner, who did the rest. He was daring when he faced Davies and Upamecano, he had more faith than anyone, when, in fits and starts, he won the rebounds that finally beat even Neuer. Three shots, three goals. No alibi.
Not even the missed chance by Harry Kane earlier, with just 1-0 down, is enough as an excuse for Bayern, who looked nothing like what they should be. Not even the players he has. Not even the operation it needs. Not even the performance required in such a high-level block. But it’s Bayern. Any other team would have been considered a loser. Not to him.
Kimmich had hardly scored in practically the entire first half, when he scored a great goal much more at his level than the entire previous course of the match. The goal does reflect it. Lost passes, no. He is one of the best center midfielders in the world. He hit it with his right foot, first time, from outside the area, into the top corner, as if it were so easy, it was wonderful. Trapp did not react. He would never have reached that shot (3-1. M. 43).
But Bayern is not irreducible. Not even in the Bundesliga, where they had not yet lost this season. Eintracht discovered it definitively at the beginning of the second half. In the 50th minute, everything starts from the umpteenth mistake by the visiting team. From Upamecano, this time. Chaibi’s career, Dina Ebimbe’s resolution and the 4-1. It was already irrefutable. He pointed to each and every one of the players. Also to Tuchel, without effective solutions.
It is true that Choupo Moting missed a very clear chance at 4-1, also that the coach had moved his bench at half-time, with the substitution of his two full-backs (Davies and Mazraoui for Laimer and Guerreiro), or that the beginning of the second Part of it conveyed other feelings about Bayern, as well as that the score was overwhelming, even more so for him.
And even more so when at the hour mark they received the 5-1 score, scored by Knauff, after a pass from Marmoush. The VAR, which validated the goal initially disallowed for offside, added a suspense that the match no longer had. The defeat was incontestable. The consequences will be dictated by time. At the moment, they survive in the Bundesliga competition, are eliminated from the German Cup and are group leaders in the Champions League.
To make matters worse, Bayern lost Gnabry on the field in two minutes. He came on in ’66. In ’68 he left the field, injured muscle. Musiala reappeared in his place, a month later, in the current Bundesliga champion, reduced to nothing by Eintracht, precisely the last rival to score five goals in this competition. Four years ago, November 2, 2019. It was also a 5-1.
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Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp; Tuta, Koch, Pacho; Buta (Baum, m. 89), Larsson (Hauge, m. 81), Chaibi (Ngankam, m . 89), Dina Ebimbe (Nkonkou, m. 76); Götze, Knauff; Marmoush (Hasebe, m. 81).
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Mazraoui (Laimer, d. 46), Upamecano, Min Jae, Davies (Guerreiro, d. 46); Kimmich, Goretzka; Coman (Gnabry, d. 66; Musiala, d. 69), Choupo-Moting (Muller, d. 66), Sané; Kane.
Goals: 1-0, m. 12: Marmoush. 2-0, m. 30: Dinah’s Stories. 3-0, m. 36: Larsson. 3-1, m. 43: Kimmich. 4-1, m. 50: Dinah Stories. 5-1, m. 60: Knauff.
Referee: Felix Zwayer. He gave a yellow card to the local Marmoush (m. 7) and the visitors Min Jae (m. 23) and Sané (m. 71).
Incidents: match corresponding to the fourteenth day of the German Bundesliga, played at the Deutsche Bank stadium in Frankfurt in front of around 50,000 spectators.
