Real Madrid know-how shows Bayern Munich have lost their edge
In an interview earlier this week, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted that he has never brought himself to watch again the 2013 Champions League final.
An all-German affair, played before a rapturous Wembley crowd, ended with Arjen Robben’s winner dampening the exuberance of Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, who could hardly have done more in attempting to upset the odds.
If that game still makes agonising viewing for Klopp, then perhaps what has gone since is an awkward watch for Bayern. While they remain dominant in the Bundesliga, similar moments in Europe have been elusive in the half-decade since that glory night in London.
Whereas Dortmund sparkled but fell short at Wembley, it is now Bayern — still laden with quality — who find the fine margins going against them. Next Tuesday, they will walk out at the Bernabeu in hope rather than expectation and kick off their Champions League semifinal second leg trailing Real Madrid 2-1.
But it should never have been that way: Decisive errors at either end of the pitch aside, Bayern were better than Madrid during the tie’s first meeting at the Allianz Arena. The problem, though, is that that is becoming a familiar lament when they reach the competition’s latter stages and, this season at least, it will take something special to break the cycle.
“We weren’t clinical enough,” admitted Heynckes, now back in the Bayern dugout, on Tuesday. “I haven’t seen something like that [from us]; it doesn’t happen very often.”
But while that may be true domestically, where Bayern rattle out almost three goals a game on average and nobody minds too much when opportunities to add garnish go begging, it is a repeat occurrence in Europe and especially against Real.
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