On Tuesday, at the Bay Arena, Bayern Munich faced Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of the round of 16 tie in the ongoing 2024/25 UEFA Champions League. Courtesy of goals from Harry Kane and Alphonso Davies in the second half, Bayern Munich eased their way into the quarter-final stage of the competition.
Bayern had to weather some early pressure from Leverkusen, but it didn’t take long for them to settle into a comfortable rhythm. Despite the best efforts from the hosts, the first half ended goalless. After winning the first leg by a score of 3-0 in Munich, the half-time score would have sufficed on the night. However, the second-half goals from Kane and Davies meant that the Bavarian giants progressed 5-0 on aggregate. Let’s take a look at some key takeaways from Tuesday’s victory.
Professional display
Bayer Leverkusen huffed and puffed against Bayern Munich to fire off 17 shots in total, but only three were on target. Apart from the odd tense moment in defense, Bayern’s defenders on the night- Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano, Kim Min-jae, and Alphonso Davies, along with Josip Stanisic and Hiroki Ito deserve plaudits for keeping the opposition at bay. A clean sheet guaranteed safe passage to the next round regardless of what happened at the other end of the pitch, and the aforementioned six players, along with Jonas Urbig in goal duly obliged.
With the defense holding firm, Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka eventually took command of the midfield and played important roles in the passages of play that led to Bayern’s goals.