Bayern Munich: Takeaways from emphatic win against RB Salzburg
By Isaac Rivers
Bayern Munich hosted Austrian side RB Salzburg in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday. In this eight-goal thriller, the German champions dominated in every sense of the game. Coming back after 1-1 in the first leg, Bayern will now be advancing onto the quarterfinals. Here are the major takeaways from Bayern Munich’s 7-1 win over RB Salzburg.
Lewandowski is the Champions League king
From two early first-half penalties and a brilliant chip shot goal, Robert Lewandowski bagged a hattrick and an assist to round off yet another brilliant Champions League performance. By scoring a hattrick in just 11 minutes, Lewandowski is the third-fastest hattrick in Champions League history (Lewandowski also holds the fifth-fastest as well).
The hattrick at Allianz Arena ensured that Lewandowski overtook Ajax’s Sebastien Haller to become the top scorer in this season’s Champions League. If Bayern Munich manages to go deep in this competition, Robert Lewandowski is well on pace to smash the single-season scoring record of 17 goals, set back in 2013-14.
Neuer’s presence is unmatched
In Manuel Neuer’s return from minor knee surgery, he captained his team to an astounding victory. This was Neuer’s first game back since Feb. 5 and he did not disappoint. Playing the sweeper-keeper role that he does so well allows for the team to play in ways that they cannot with Sven Ulreich in goal.
There is a certain confidence that is on the field when the German giants know their number one is in goal. The most important thing to point out is the high defensive line. In the last five games, this was not seen due to Neuer’s absence. Knowing that your goalkeeper can play as the final defender allows your defensive front to press and play higher up, including having the fullbacks break out into the attack. Even though Neuer was largely untested on Tuesday, his presence made a big difference.
Major struggles in squad depth
Even though Bayern was heavily dominant in this game, it presented a couple of woes that maybe were not so prevalent before. With the likes of Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies out, it is clear that there is going to be in lack in squad depth, but outside of their rotational 13 to 14 man line-ups, they have virtually have nothing.
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The win against Salzburg demonstrated that when Nagelsmann moves to bring on players who do not get regular playing time, the team’s performance drops drastically. The three defensive substitutions made today directly led to Salzburg’s lone goal. If Bayern wants to maintain pure dominance in Europe, depth is where they need to look.
With Bayern advancing into the quarter-finals, it will be just over two weeks’ time to find out who they will be drawn up against in the quarter-final.