Despite a courageous and, for long stretches of the game, convincing performance, FC Bayern were narrowly beaten 2-1 (1-0) by the reigning Champions League winners Manchester City at the Audi Football Summit. In a match that was hotly-contested from the start, the Munich side created some good chances, especially in the first half, but could only find the back of the net once with a Mathys Tel strike. "Our effort in the first half was not rewarded, we had a few good chances and then we were punished," was how head coach Thomas Tuchel summed things up after the record-breaking match. Tokyo's National Stadium has never before welcomed more spectators than on Wednesday evening (65,049). fcbayern.com has a round-up of the reaction to the first friendly of the Audi Summer Tour 2023.
Reaction to the game against Manchester City
Thomas Tuchel: "Our effort in the first half wasn't rewarded, we had a few good chances and then we were punished. In the second half, we made a lot of changes and brought on lots of youth players. Nevertheless, we managed to equalise through a counter attack. Unfortunately, we weren't able to hold on for the draw. We tried very hard to implement what we wanted to do, but we still have to improve on certain things. We can handle the result at this point in pre-season."
Jamal Musiala: "It was our first pre-season game. It was good for the legs and to get into the routines we've been practising for the last week. We want to win every game, we tried everything to do so. There are things we can still improve on, but for the first game we played some decent football. There are a lot of things we can build on. But we have to be more focused in front of goal, I should have put my chance away in the left corner. We'll work on that and practise shooting in training. We always get our chances in the game, but we have to start putting them away now."
Reaction from opponents Manchester City
Pep Guardiola (Coach, Manchester City): "It was a game between two terrific teams. You could see Bayern's tremendous pace whenever we lost the ball. It was a good test and the legs got a good run-out. The result isn't that crucial. We know each other well, Bayern are a very good team."
Phil Foden (Manchester City): "We wanted to attack quickly via the flanks in the second half to create danger in Bayern's penalty area. At the same time, our focus was also on good defensive work. It was the second win in pre-season for us, which was very important for us."
All you need to know about the game in our match report:
Topics of this article