The Bundesliga title race ended on Saturday as Bayern Munich suffered a 2-0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund. It was a chastening defeat for the defending champions as they lost a Der Klassiker at Allianz Arena after a long time. Courtesy of the defeat on Saturday, Bayern are 13 points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen with seven games to go in the Bundesliga.
After enjoying a good run of form before the international break, Bayern had the momentum with them going into Der Klassiker. However, Thomas Tuchel’s team looked low on confidence against Dortmund.
Barring the initial phase of the game, it was a completely flat performance from Bayern. They were poor in the final third. With Harry Kane having a bad day in the office, Die Roten looked toothless in front of the goal.
The Bavarian faithful gave up on the Bundesliga title before Der Klassiker since there is significant ground to make in the points table. However, they expected a much better performance in Der Klassiker. While talking to ESPN after the game, Tuchel admitted that Bayern lacked intensity and urgency against Dortmund.
"“Very disappointed with our performance. We lacked intensity, we lacked urgency, we lacked commitment, we lacked hunger.”"Thomas Tuchel
The lack of intensity in games has been a major problem for Bayern throughout Ruckrunde. They have often been timid in and out of possession, making it easy for the opposition to contain them.
Along with lacking the cutting edge in the final third, Bayern have regularly conceded poor goals throughout the season. Tuchel has struggled to make the team defensively solid as he has done with his previous teams. Bayern have been vulnerable in defense, irrespective of who is playing in the back four this season.
With the Bundesliga title out of the picture, Bayern only have Champions League to salvage their season. It is going to take a massive turnaround in performances from Die Roten to stand a chance of bringing the Champions League title back to Allianz Arena.
Tuchel has previously come up with strong tactical plans to win a Champions League title with Chelsea. The German coach has endured a difficult spell in Bavaria until now. He will hope to end it on a high by helping the team win the biggest club competition in Europe. Bayern will face Arsenal in the quarter-finals in the second week of April. For now, Tuchel and Die Roten will look to bounce back from defeat in Der Klassiker when they travel away to FC Heidenheim on matchday 28.