Talking Tactics: Bayern Munich face tricky challenge against Leverkusen

Rewind: Matchday 13 – Bayern Munich’s ball progression

One of the key faults for Bayern, as mentioned above, was Kimmich deployed in a single-pivot role. With at least three players lined in behind Amiri, Volland, and Diaby to apply pressure, Leverkusen had effectively reduced Kimmich’s territory to operate. In a failed attempt to open space in the center, Die Roten deployed five men in an advanced role. Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry, Ivan Perisic, Thomas Muller, and Leon Goretzka attempted to play in behind Leverkusen’s last line of defense.

The strategy from Bayern was quite straightforward here. They used horizontal passing in their half to widen Leverkusen’s lines. The hosts attempted a combination of line-breaking passes and long-balls in the final third in search of the back of the net. Gnabry, in particular, appeared as a viable target man for this maneuver.

Bayern’s ball progression looked better when Goretzka dropped deep in support. This was distinctly observed in the second half. The former Schalke midfielder moved in support of Kimmich to facilitate a passing option. Consequently, there were phases when Bayern absorbed pressure from Leverkusen and progressed the ball in the final third.

A similar pattern was observed on the left flank. Die Roten showed some promising moves using quick short passes to combine in trios and move the ball forward. Perisic pushed back to join Kimmich and opened space for Davies to carry the ball using his blistering pace.

Overall, Die Roten did a decent job to exploit Leverkusen’s aggressive pressing in the mid-thirds. However, they went for a rather direct approach as opposed to their positional build-up, which occurred intermittently. Coupled with their poor finishing, Bayern endured a tough time to create space against a rigid Leverkusen. The Bavarians had 42% of their shots on target compared with Leverkusen’s 64%.