The most relatable thing about Bayern Munich is that they, probably like many of us, have gotten off to a sluggish start after the holiday break. First halves have always gone according to plan for Vincent Kompany’s side, conceding first in each of their last two matches against Cologne and RB Leipzig and finding themselves level at 1-1 by the 13th minute in the first game of the new year against Wolfsburg.
The good news on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League is that Bayern had not conceded to Union Saint-Gilloise, but the Belgian visitors had grown into the match and were starting to string together an impressive defensive showing. They had limited Bayern to just one shot on target and 0.75 expected goals, their third straight game in which they could not crack more than one expected goal despite a reputation for slinging goals into the back of the net at an audacious rate, Vincent Kompany’s side already on track for the greatest single-season goal tally in the Bundesliga’s history. Perhaps the pressure of the German league’s best-ever Hinrunde, or first half of a season, has a way of weighing down on a team, no matter how dominant they are.
And yet, as Union learned the hard way and Leipzig and Cologne did before them, Bayern always find a way to regress toward the mean.
The German champions notched yet another win on Wednesday, scoring twice in the second half against Union and becoming one of two teams to secure direct passageway to the round of 16 with a game to spare in the league phase. Bayern have a trademark way of wearing teams down, correcting course in the second half when need be. Wednesday’s Champions League clash offered a perfect example – Union went from a defensively resilient team to one that conceded on the simplest of chances, the first a basic header from Harry Kane in the 52nd minute.
Kane, one of the greatest goalscorers of his generation, is a terrific thematic fit for this version of Bayern because he cannot help but overpower an opposing defense time and time again. Moments later, he forced Union goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen into a foul that led to a penalty, the England captain coolly finishing off the opportunity from the spot.
It was enough to survive the chaos that followed, first Kim Min-jae’s second yellow card in the 63rd minute and Kane’s missed penalty in the 81st minute, a rare sighting from the uber-clinical forward. The surprise developments, though, came with a stark reminder of Bayern’s abilities – Kompany’s side can handle many of the punches that a title challenge can throw at them, making them perhaps the greatest challenger to Arsenal as the road to May’s Champions League final begins to kick into high gear.
Kompany’s Bayern, like many previous editions of the team, tend to blaze past a range of German and European teams anchored by their historic dominance, but the one-dimensional version of Bayern in recent years has given way for a layered team that have multiple ways of grinding opponents down. Kane’s multidimensional style suits Bayern well but these days, he is far from their only option in attack. He has help from Michael Olise, who notched the assist to his first goal and has 16 goals and 18 assists across all competitions this season, while newcomer Luis Diaz is not all that far behind with 14 goals and 10 assists. Kompany has also benefitted from the rise of 17-year-old Lennart Karl, who has seven goals and two assists this campaign and joined the more senior trio in the lineup on Wednesday, a strong fit for a team developing a reputation in the Bundesliga for steamrolling the rest.
For all their skill, Kompany’s Bayern are also willing to do the grunt work when the game calls for it, a tendency to be relentless in their pursuit of victory making up some of the intangibles needed to be a team that rises above the rest. It is a multi-dimensional style that will allow them to surpass most tests they will face, most impressively with a 2-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain in November, in which they announced themselves as Champions League contenders. A deep run now has to be the expectation for Bayern, but winning the title for the first time in six years does not feel too ambitious.
Last season’s edition of the Champions League demonstrates that it is too early to pick out eventual champions, especially once the knockouts begin. The title may still be Arsenal’s to lose and their win over Bayern earlier in the league phase demonstrates just that but Kompany’s side still feel like the most genuine competitor of any in the competition, and at the very least are on pace to restore the team’s position as a European heavyweight.
