Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich side lost to Barcelona 4-1 on Wednesday night, suffering their second consecutive loss in the competition (also losing to English side Aston Villa) and ending the third match week in the 23rd spot in the new-look Champions League table. They must finish between 9th-24th to have a chance to qualify for the round of 16 knockouts.
Safe to say, Bayern have their work cut out for them in the Champions League.
While Bayern are currently 1st in their domestic German Bundesliga — currently tied on points with RB Leipzig but ahead on goal differential — it is not the domestic league that is the real prize for the German giants. After all, they had won the Bundesliga 11 consecutive years (with the streak ending last season).
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick, who previously managed Bayern Munich before leaving to manage the German national team, will have surely felt a sense of vindication getting a victory over his old club. In fact, it only took less than a minute for Barcelona to score their first goal, where Raphinha took advantage of a messy Bayern defensive line to round Manuel Neuer. Harry Kane equalized for the visitors before another big-name striker Robert Lewandowski netted one back to make it 2-1 for Barcelona.
From there, Barcelona took control of the game. Raphinha scored after an exquisite pass from Lamine Yamal, who would go on to score one more goal to complete his hat-trick.
Bayern Munich has been a ‘bogey’ team for Barcelona for years. The Spanish side has only managed two victories against the Germans in fifteen attempts. Barcelona infamously lost 8-2 to Bayern in the Quarter Final in 2020, ensuring that any victory here would have been not only welcome — but rare.
But where does it go from here for Bayern Munich and Vincent Kompany?
Football moves fast as a sport, and it moves even faster when you’re the manager at a top club. Typically, back-to-back defeats in the opening stages of the UEFA Champions League would have made it a near-impossible task to salvage any attempt to advance. Thanks to the new-look Champions League format, Bayern Munich still have five games left to play, and still plenty of opportunity to move higher up the table in an effort to secure their knockout round berth.
As a manager, Kompany is still aiming for his first-ever trophy. While he finished 1st with Burnley in the Championship, his move from Burnley to Bayern Munich raised eyebrows. The season after winning promotion with Burnley to the Premier League, they finished the next season in 19th with a club record low of 24 points and were ultimately relegated back to the Championship. British outlet The Independent stated that it was one of the worst-ever Premier League relegations.
After that season, Kompany was hired by Bayern Munich on a three-year deal. Burnley received £10.2 million in compensation, which meant that Kompany was the most expensive manager in history.
For Bayern, advancing into the Champions League knockout round is a formality. Their upcoming fixtures in the Champions League aren’t exactly encouraging, with their next matches against Benfica, PSG, Shakhtar Donetsk, Feyenoord, and Slovan Bratislava.
