Having already qualified for the knock-out stage of the FIFA Club World Cup, Bayern Munich would have been hoping to make it three victories in a row in the group stage with a win against Benfica on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the Portuguese side had other ideas against a heavily rotated Bayern Munich team amid the current heat wave in America. Norwegian winger-Andreas Schjelderup gave Benfica the lead against the run of play in the 13th minute, and that solitary goal proved to be the difference in the match despite the best efforts, particularly in the second half, from the German Champions.
Courtesy of the 1-0 loss, Bayern had to settle for second place in group C and, as a result, will now face group D winners Flamengo in the round of 16 on Sunday. Let’s have a look at some sobering takeaways from Tuesday’s disappointing loss.
Squad rotation was akin to squad experimentation
With passage to the knock-out round having already been secured, a healthy dose of squad rotation from Coach Vincent Kompany seemed in order. However, some of the players chosen for the starting XI and the positions in which they were deployed brought about some head scratching.
Kompany made seven changes to the side that defeated Boca Juniors 2-1 a few days earlier. Tom Bischof, Leroy Sané, João Palhinha, and Dayot Upamecano made their first starts of the tournament, whilst Thomas Muller, Sacha Boey, and Aleksandar Pavlovic returned to the starting lineup.
Collectively, the starting XI was totally out of sync as Bayern failed to register a single shot on target in the first half. Aleksandar Pavlovic was the only player who fared well in the first half. However, Bischoff, who was played out of position as the number ten, and the recently recovered-from-injury Upamecano should be entitled to a pass. Bischof only played the first half, and Upamecano departed 13 minutes into the second half. With Raphael Guerreiro producing another disappointing performance at left-back, one can’t help but feel that Kompany missed the trick with his changes by not giving Adam Aznou a start against Benfica.