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In what was essentially a dead-rubber game in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in the Allianz Arena tonight. Both teams had already qualified for the knockout stages, and it was unsurprising to see both rest some key players, but in the end, Bayern ran out deserved winners.
The German champions opened the scoring through Kingsley Coman – who was later taken off with a potentially serious knee injury – before 19-year old Ryan Sessegnon hammered home an equaliser just 6 minutes later.
An open game saw chances fall to both sides, but in the end, it was Bayern who found the net, with Thomas Muller poking home a rebound late in the first half before Philippe Coutinho’s curling shot put the game beyond Jose Mourinho’s side in the 64th minute.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Bayern Munich.
#1 Tottenham simply didn’t have enough of the ball
The first half of tonight’s game was essentially wide open, with both sides having plenty of the ball and launching plenty of dangerous attacks, but the second half largely belonged to Bayern Munich and the main reason for that was that Tottenham simply didn’t have enough of the ball.
Mourinho’s men registered just 30% of the possession, and while the game definitely felt like the dead rubber that it was – with both sides not really coming out of low gear – it was painfully clear that Tottenham’s midfield duo of Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko were badly lacking in the battle against Joshua Kimmich, Thiago Alcantara and Philippe Coutinho.
Dier in particular simply couldn’t get himself into the game, as he failed to impose himself on Bayern’s offensive players and was wasteful in possession, while Sissoko – and further forward, Christian Eriksen and Giovani Lo Celso – struggled too.
The game seemed tailor-made for a Spurs player more comfortable on the ball – the injured Harry Winks, or youngster Oliver Skipp – to attempt to go against Thiago, but Mourinho waited too long to deploy Skipp, and even then it was Lo Celso rather than Dier that he replaced.
The loss won’t hurt Spurs too much, but it should give Mourinho food for thought before deploying this midfield combination against a side comfortable on the ball again.
Also check out: Champions League Schedule Champions League table Champions league top scorers
#2 Bayern’s high line made their attacks incredibly dangerous
From the opening whistle of the game, Bayern Munich seemed content to play in an incredibly reckless style, pushing an extremely high line in order to overload Tottenham’s inexperienced defence, which contained youngsters Kyle Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth. Full-backs Benjamin Pavard and Alphonso Davies were more than happy to charge forward, and that meant that the German side had plenty of dangerous attacks throughout the game.
Sure, it must be noted that Bayern were wide open to counter attacks throughout the match too – and had Spurs been more ruthless with their finishing, the Bavarians could well have conceded more than one goal – but the high line worked in this match as goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was largely able to mop up most of the danger, and Spurs were without their key attackers anyway.
Whether Bayern will play in this way going forward is unknown – obviously nothing was riding on this game meaning the risks they took were perfectly acceptable – but if they do choose to follow this pattern, then we should expect them to score – and concede – plenty of goals in the knockout stages of this competition.
#3 Tottenham wasted some chances
Bayern’s high line and reckless style tonight meant that they were open to counter-attacks, and while the German side had more than enough chances to win the game – they could realistically have scored five or six past Spurs – they also gave away a lot of goalscoring chances that Mourinho’s team unfortunately wasted.
The impressive Ryan Sessegnon finished his goal with aplomb, firing a hard left-footed shot past Manuel Neuer and into the net, but after that, Moussa Sissoko completely botched a cross with Sessegnon and Christian Eriksen wide open, and in the second half, substitute Heung Min Son fluffed his lines too when presented with a pair of relatively easy chances.
The loss shouldn’t hurt Spurs too much, but Mourinho must be hoping that his side aren’t as wasteful once they hit the knockout stages of this competition; they may well draw one of Europe’s giants such as Barcelona or Juventus, and there can be no doubt that clear-cut chances against that kind of team will be few and far between.
