Bayern Munich batters Chelsea, yet again: Three key takeaways
By Kartik Sahni
Bayern Munich is all about vigour
Die Roten’s second goal was produced as a result of their relentless pressing in Chelsea’s half. Moving in cohesion and closing down their opponent’s space in split seconds is what makes Bayern a machine.
Flick’s tactical theme is based around compactness and aggressive pressing. Chelsea were a victim of the same. Bayern Munich attempted 34 tackles throughout the 90 with a success rate of 56%. They dispossessed Chelsea 11 times in the process.
The other side of Bayern’s strategy was a byproduct of their aggressive game. The Rekordmeister took 18 shots with nine attempted from outside the box. This compares with Chelsea’s ten shots attempted in total. The high frequency of shots offered Die Roten a perfect opportunity to use their cohesive structure for counter-pressing and pressing the visitors to restart the attack in a favorable position.
This trait is what differentiates Hansi Flick from his predecessor. A trait that allowed Bayern to round Chelsea 360 degrees as the hosts won by four goals to one in their backyard. Flick has enjoyed so much success by implementing a vigorous style of football at Die Roten in the past ten months. He will be looking to maintain the same trend in the CL knockout games, but tweaking the approach a bit depending on the type of opposition.