The morning after the night before in Bavaria and the Bild front page headline confirmed that normal service has resumed.
‘Alles wie immer’ were the words chosen to describe Thomas Tuchel’s first night as Bayern Munich manager and, at first glance, one would think it was ‘Everything as usual’: Borussia Dortmund failed when they had to find a new level and a 4 -2 loss at the Allianz Arena will likely cost them the title.
Bayern returned to the top of the table and their supporters, who are not lacking in self-confidence, enjoyed singing the club’s anthem, in particular the lyrics, ‘FC Bayern, forever No 1!’ as a crazy opening 45 minutes turned the tide of the campaign.
Many casual observers will also have seen this result and wondered if Pep Guardiola was about to face his former club at the wrong time. He knows better than anyone that Bavaria’s obsession with winning the Champions League and beating Dortmund suggests that Bayern are ready.
But that is not the case. The Bayern players, normally so outspoken and confident in their potential, are looking forward to next week’s trip to Manchester. Everything, in that sense, is not as usual and Joshua Kimmich articulated it better.
Thomas Tuchel got off to a perfect start as Bayern Munich manager with a home win
Tuchel was recruited to replace Julian Nagelsmann after Bayern Munich brutally dumped the young manager.
Tuchel looked happy on the touchline as Bayern Munich regained their place at the top.
“We have to stay focused,” Kimmich said. “Fortunately, everyone is fit and everyone is healthy, except for Manu (Neuer) and Lucas (Hernández). For us it is essential to have everyone in the squad because this week is going to be difficult. We have to beat Freiburg in the German Cup and then again in the Bundesliga. After? We know City are waiting. We have to win every game. It sounds easy, but it is difficult.
“Everyone felt at the beginning against Dortmund that we were a bit nervous and the pressure was very high. Then there was a bit of luck that we scored the first goal. We needed the goal, so we had to be happy. But this was not ours. best performance.
Kimmich wasn’t saying this for effect. Dortmund flew out of the traps and caused anxiety in the home defence, but that all changed when Gregor Kobel inexplicably took a wild turn trying to clear a through ball from Dayot Upamecano and saw it roll into an empty goal.
For the next 35 minutes, Bayern were superb. They have speedy strikers who will test City and only poor finishing prevented them from scoring six, instead of another two through Thomas Muller, before half-time. However, what happened next is something Guardiola will focus on.
Bayern, with a 4-0 lead through Kingsley Coman, fell asleep. Jude Bellingham kept trying to push the Dortmund forward and, in the last 20 minutes, led to two goals, one from a penalty from Emre Can, the other from Donyell Malen that left Tuchel cursing furiously.
Bayern defender Matthijs De Ligt said: “We are reaching the critical months and we are still in all competitions.” Now we have to be strong and mentally prepared to win every game. We have to win every game. We are Bayern, that is our focus, always.
‘The reason I came here was to be in this situation and try to win all the trophies. City is a big test, but there are still 10 days to go.”
Maybe, but time goes by fast and Tuchel will have a lot of work trying to do things the way he wants. Even though he has a stellar record against Guardiola, including a glorious night with Chelsea in the Champions League final in Porto, it will be a feat to do it again.
They dominated Borussia Dortmund for long stretches of the game, exposing fragile elements.
Tuchel will have a lot of work trying to do things the way he wants at Bayern Munich
The club faces a reunion with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in the Champions League
Tuchel had a smile on his face as he explained what his first week in Munich had been like: ‘work, eat, sleep, repeat’, but he was rather more circumspect in explaining why he had remained on the periphery during the Dortmund game.
He was barely visible on the touchline, was not introduced to the crowd before kickoff, and did not greet them at full time. They brought him in to win and make sure everything is as usual.
“I’ve come here late in the season,” he said. It wasn’t the right time to put myself in the middle of this. Now I am happy when my players can show their potential.
‘My job is to try to help them. I want them to develop their potential as a team, I try to influence them and create a good environment where everyone wants to come to work. But for now, I’m happy to stay out of everything else.
And that, quite simply, is because he has to make Bayern stay in the Champions League.