2:0 against Cologne: Coman’s injury overshadowed Bayern’s victory

FIn fact, it is nothing new for German football fans that the winner of the championship was already decided in April. This happened in 2013, 2014 (even in Pep Guardiola’s debut season, even in March!), 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. Most likely, the same will happen in 2024. Yet there’s something new for football fans in Munich and all the other Bundesliga cities (and districts) this season: Bayern won’t win the league this early.

This Saturday, April 13, the 29th matchday of the Bundesliga season, Bayern were able to prevent only the worst: Leverkusen, the dominant team of the league, became champions on the legendary sofa. And with Raphael Guerreiro scoring so expertly against 1. Cologne in the 65th minute, and Thomas Müller repeating it less skillfully in the 90th minute, it at least worked quite confidently.

The most interesting thing about this rather mediocre Bundesliga game in Munich (in which, as football parlance goes, Cologne could have had more) was that one team clearly had no interest in the Bundesliga.

This Saturday it was worth mentioning not only who Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel chose, but also who he didn’t choose. He was without seven starters in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final in London last Tuesday (final score: 2-2): Manuel Neuer, Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Leon Goretzka, Serge. Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sane.

And even if Neuer and Sane were not even nominated for the match against Cologne, it is likely that only Davis (yellow suspension) and Gnabry (hamstring tear) will be selected for the decisive match against Arsenal on Wednesday (21:00). 00 according to FAZ). live ticker of the Champions League and DAZN).

What speaks in favor of Mazraoui

In the stands of the arena, where he had to sit due to suspension for a yellow card on this sunny Saturday, Thomas Tuchel will take a closer look at at least two players: Raphael Guerreiro and Nossir Mazraoui. One of them is likely to replace Davis at left back. Will Mazraoui be eligible to start in his usual position?

One thing in his favor is that he is faster than Guerreiro (which is a good argument, given the duel with Arsenal striker Bukayo Saka). What speaks in favor of Guerreiro is that he is a better footballer overall, which he then proved against Cologne. Because of the movements and passes that speed up the game.

And, of course, because of the first goal of the game, which he scored in the 65th minute from a corner: he waited on the corner of the penalty area, where no Cologne player was guarding him, and where Joshua Kimmich then passed him. . He turned with the ball and then fired into the far corner with his left foot.

When the score finally became 1-0, Thomas Tuchel had already suffered a major setback: in the 49th minute, winger Kingsley Coman, who would not play again for a few weeks, was left lying in the penalty area with a “bad shot”. hit”. His muscles were driving him crazy, as sporting director Christoph Freund later said. And since after that he could not put any weight on his leg, he was immediately kicked out of the stadium.

It was tragic not only for the player, who has been plagued by injury again and again this season, but also for his coach, as Coman was one of the candidates to replace Gnabry in the Champions League. So Gnabry’s place should go to good old Thomas Müller. And if you didn’t already know that Müller never lacks confidence, you could at least interpret it as a good sign that he made it 2-0 in stoppage time.