Image Credit: The Guardian
By Lee Clow
11 December 2019 | Champions League
Bayern Munich made it six wins out of six in the Champions League group stages as they beat Tottenham 3-1 at the Allianz Area.
With Bayern and Spurs already assured of their places into the knockout stages, both sides made changes going into the game giving minutes to fringer players and giving well-earned rests to star players.
Bayern started the game on the front foot, and it didn’t take them long to open the scoring against the team that they put seven past on match day two of the group. A lovely run down the right by Serge Gnabry split the Spurs defence allowing the German to slide in Kingsley Coman on the left who placed his effort into the corner past Paulo Gazzaniga in the Tottenham goal.
The Champions League runners’ up of last season however found themselves level only five minutes later thanks to a debut goal by Ryan Sessegnon. After some tight, quick passing play on the right, the ball fell for Giovani Lo Celso who managed to feed the ball over to Sessegnon, via a deflection, allowing the 19-year-old to smash home a volley past Manuel Neuer.
Play had to be stopped after 25 minutes when the Bayern goal scorer, Coman, appeared to have suffered a freak injury. The young Frenchman after walking off the pitch was replaced by Thomas Muller who made his 110th Champions League appearance.
Tottenham had a huge rare chance in the first half when Christian Eriksen played in Moussa Sissoko, however the former fluffed his lines despite having plenty of time to pick up his head and pick out Lucas Moura or Sessegnon who were coming in on the back post.
The remainder of the half was dominated by Bayern with the German champions putting huge pressure on Tottenham. Gnabry smashed the post late on and Thiago missed a sitter from close range, but Bayern eventually got their deserved second goal seconds before half time.
After a lovely one two with Thiago, Gnabry was allowed to square the ball across the box towards Alphonso Davies who smashed the upright before the rebound fell right into the path of substitute Muller to tap home.
In the second half, Bayern took further control of the game as they pinned Tottenham back into their own half. Kyle Walker-Peters was the weak spot of Tottenham and Bayern identified this and targeted this area all game.
Phillipe Coutinho could have had three or four goals if it wasn’t for Gazzaniga stopping his long-range strikes. However, on 64 minutes the Brazilian finally found a way past the Argentine goalkeeper when he excellently curled an effort into the far corner making the score 3-1 to the home side.
Bayern held out for their impressive victory, but they were lucky not to concede with Son Heung-Min fluffing his lines twice and Eriksen’s free kick being denied excellently by Neuer.
The victory sees Bayern become only the seventh side to win all of their group games in the competition.
After the game, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was positive despite the defeat: “A good match for me. I don't want to speak about conclusions because it is too strong a word, but I would say important information. I give you clearly a positive example because they are easier. Today I learned a lot about Juan Foyth. He didn't play one minute for me until today and I learned more in these 90 minutes than I did in two or three weeks of training. No conclusions but good information.”
"I would prefer to win or to draw and for Son to score in the last minute and lose 3-2 rather than 3-1 of course but we knew the match was important for other reasons. We didn't want a result that leaves a shadow on us, but I think positive things about many of the boys."
What’s next?
Both clubs await their fate in Monday's draw for the last-16 of the Champions League. Before that, Bayern host Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday, while Tottenham travel to Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday.
Kommentarer