Vincent Kompany is facing his toughest test so far as the coach of Bayern Munich, and he believes it’s time to learn from this experience.
Bayern was thoroughly outplayed in their 4-1 defeat to Barcelona on Wednesday, with Raphinha scoring a hat trick by exploiting weaknesses in the defense. Kompany made a bold move with four substitutions in the second half, but it didn’t change the game.
Speaking to DAZN, Kompany stated that there could be “no excuses” and stressed the importance of sticking together at a club that has had its share of drama in the locker room with past coaches. “We will of course stick together and learn from this game,” he said.
This loss was part of a larger trend for German teams in the Champions League this week. Borussia Dortmund lost a 2-0 lead, ultimately losing 5-2 to Real Madrid, while Leipzig suffered a defeat against Liverpool and has not earned any points so far.
Bayer Leverkusen appeared to focus on defending their Bundesliga title by making eight changes in a 1-1 draw at Brest, while Stuttgart was the only team celebrating, having beaten Juventus.
Earlier signs of trouble for Bayern were evident. Despite their impressive 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb last month, Harry Kane had warned that Bayern often loses focus, saying, “against the top opposition we could get punished for that.”
It turned out to be true.
“We had a period in the first half when we seemed really dangerous, but Barcelona played well, and we didn’t take advantage of the time when we were on top. Then we got punished during transitions,” Kane said this week.
“We need to step back and learn from this. There was a time when we looked dangerous, but maybe we were a bit too eager to make the final play too quickly.”
Bayern is still at the top of the Bundesliga but has only one win in its last five matches across all competitions—though that win was a solid 4-0 against Stuttgart last week. Kompany’s team is expected to win on Sunday against Bochum, which has not won any games and currently has two coaches after Peter Zeidler was fired last week.
However, Bochum’s noisy and traditional stadium can be tough to play in, as Bayern discovered during a 3-2 loss there in February.
