Champions League: Sané’s substitution puts Munich on the road to victory

With the substitution of Leroy Sané, Munich’s performance in the Champions League against Benfica Lisbon took a turn for the better. Jamal Musiala scored with his head again.

After a tough fight on Wednesday, Bayern deservedly won 1-0 (0-0). Against a strongly defensive Portuguese team, it took more than an hour for Bayern to take the lead: Jamal Musiala pushed the ball over the line with a header from close range (67th). Then finally the fans were able to celebrate after there were no cheering chants during the game out of respect due to an emergency medical intervention in the stands.

Musiala beams: “I don’t know what’s going on with my header”

Munich celebrated its second victory in the Champions League in the fourth game and moved up to 17th place in the table. To reach the round of 16, at least 24th place is required. Four of the eight games have been played so far. In just under three weeks, Munich will host Paris St. Germain (11/26/24, 9 p.m.).

“We had our good moments, it was a difficult opponent. It is important that we got the three points”said Musiala on DAZN. The 21-year-old himself is surprised by his new strength: “I don’t know what’s going on with my header right now. I’m getting into good positions, I’m there.”

Benfica are extremely defensive

With Joshua Kimmich and Konrad Laimer, Bayern started hard against a completely defensive Portuguese team, but were ineffective. Benfica, which had positioned all field players in three tight chains in front of its own penalty area, focused exclusively on counter-attacking, but did not manage to score a single goal during the first 45 minutes.

Nevertheless, the ball floundered once in the Munich net when keeper Manuel Neuer played a risky pass beyond the halfway line, briefly causing confusion, and Orkun Kökcü shot the ball from almost 60 meters into the empty Bayern goal. Luckily for the hosts, Alphonso Davies was fouled in the kick-off circle, which is why the referee Davide Massa whistled a free kick for Bayern.

Munich cannot find its precision

Munich repeatedly showed inaccuracies in the build-up of the game where high precision would have been necessary given the lack of space in the midfield. Bruno Lage’s team made the space tight in their own half, Munich really struggled.

After a good half hour, Michael Olise and Serge Ganbry switched sides, which gave Bayern a little more space. But it took a counterattack for the Benfica goal to become dangerous, at least after a few half chances. Guest keeper Anatoliy Trubin also saved anything that came his way.

Sané’s substitution brings momentum

Shortly after the break, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany brought a breath of fresh air into Bayern’s game with Leroy Sané. The combinations became faster, the passes more precise and more surprising. Laimer was in a shooting position on the right, but shot over (59′), shortly afterwards Sané shot the ball from the right with his left foot, the Ukrainian national goalkeeper was able to excel again.

The same thing in the 64th minute: Trubin raised his fist at the last moment when Sané shot extremely hard from 20 meters and directed the ball over the goal. And then finally there was a rattle in the Portuguese goal.

Musiala redeems the Bayern fans

Munich had its best phase so far. Sané crossed from the right to the second post, where Kane, under pressure, headed the ball in front of the goal, where Musiala, in the center forward position, also headed it.

Benfica now acted more offensively and brought more offensive power with Jan-Niklas Beste. This created a little more space for substitute Kingsley Coman and Musiala. Munich not only had 75% possession of the ball, but also collected more and more shots on goal – in the end the statistics were 24:1. But the second goal, which would have brought some reassurance, didn’t want to come again that evening.