Four Observations from Bayern Munich's cathartic 5-1 win over RB ...

RB Leipzig’s play finally resembles the core of the club

That is to say, it’s completely rotten. The Red Bull backed club were utterly terrible in this match and were fortunate to get away with just a 5-1 defeat. Though the team’s “launch the ball to our two good forwards and pray” tactic worked a treat in the 2nd minute, it did not work consistently and could not paper over the cracks of a defensively destitute and horribly but hilariously abject performance. After Bayern Munich’s recent poor run of form against Leipzig under Thomas Tuchel, the combination of such a poor opponent and such a brilliant Bayern side helped the club finally turn the corner. Speaking of Bavarian brilliance...

Bayern ends a terrible 2024 with a bang

It has been a desperately disappointing year for Bayern. While all the headlines acknowledge that last season was Bayern’s first without a trophy since the 2011-12 season, it is also true that Bayern at least finished 2012 having won that year’s DFL Supercup. In 2024, Bayern were left with...what? The Visit Malta Cup, won in preseason? However, while trophies currently remain elusive, Bayern’s gift to the fans to end the year is the promise that 2025 will bring plenty of them. The team’s strength in this match indicate a ceiling that can crush the majority of opponents and compete with the best. Of course, Bayern are far from perfect, as last week’s loss to Mainz 05 indicates. Whether Bayern can reach this level they reached against Leipzig consistently will determine how much success the club will taste in 2025, but it still promises to be a year filled with many more trophies than 2024.

The potential of Vincent Kompany’s Bayern is frightening

Of course, Leipzig were utterly and delightfully terrible. Of course, the return of Alphonso Davies and Harry Kane prompting such a strong performance suggests Bayern may be more reliant on the two than the club would hope, particularly for a guy who is out of contract in about six months and another who will be 32 in the summer. Despite these slight concerns, Bayern’s utterly brilliant performance was a statement, one that reminds everyone just how good this team is.

After a blistering goal scoring start to the season, the 4-1 loss to FC Barcelona saw a rethink, with a more cautious and conservative Bayern emerging. At some point, fans wondered if Kompany’s team had become blunt and ineffective in attack (which is a real luxury concern when you’re still registering five goals in an away match in the Champions League) but this match blew even those luxury concerns away. The passing was incredibly slick, the players were completely in tune and the attack was running on all cylinders. Leipzig were overwhelmed by the different routes Bayern were willing to take: running around the defenders, attacking the inside, overloading the box, curving runs to confuse defenders, stretching the field, breaking the offside trap, pressing the life out of Leipzig...it was all working perfectly. It is a genuine wonder that the match ended with Bayern only registering five goals. In particular, the attackers were outstanding today. Jamal Musiala, Harry Kane and Michael Olise were their typical brilliant selves. But they have, at times, really had to carry the Bayern offense this season. Today, however, they were matched by another brilliant forward...

Leroy Sané’s confidence has returned

It is easy to focus on Leroy Sané’s misses. There were multiple of them, too, continuing a rather disappointing trend from this season. Sané has looked rather timid for the admittedly limited minutes he has played this season, with promising starts and moments of brilliance fading into sloppy, sluggish performances. His effort and application would never waver but he could not truly get going.

But today, from minute 1 to 90, Sané was great. His link up play was as sharp as the other attackers around him, his movement full of verve and confidence, exemplified by one gloriously casual nutmeg on his opponent in the first half, and his attacking play consequent and dangerous. He had the freedom of the pitch, combining on the right with Olise or drifting over the to left to give poor Benjamin Henrichs fits. His speed, as well, was a weapon that Bayern used to its’ full extent. It is one of the few qualities that the talented Olise, Kane and Musiala trio do not possess but the former Manchester City man does in abundance. And he used it so well, fashioning several glaring chances using his unbelievable acceleration from a resting position.

It is with the use of that pace that Sané also finally broke his duck for the match and scored, accelerating past his defender as if he was not there to slide the ball home. There was a moment of serene calm on his face, a perfectly captured moment of beautiful contentment: before he spotted Thomas Müller cheering his goal, his face split into a massive grin and they hugged in glorious celebration. It is a scene that could make any grown Bayern fan cry. This makes it two games in a row Sané has scored in now, going into the break with the perfect wind in his sails. His ceiling is so high if his confidence is too, and today demonstrated that perfectly. Now he just needs to do more of the same next year.

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