This fixture had almost become a guarantee for extraordinary football evenings due to its special past. On the one hand, there was the history – the glorious, title-laden history of the great FC Bayern. On the other hand, there was the almost fairytale-like history of little Heidenheim, wh've soared from the lower divisions into the UEFA Conference League. However, the head-to-head meetings had almost always been tough.
Heidenheim had scored nine goals in just three competitive matches against FC Bayern, and after Saturday's 4-2 win, the total has risen to 11 in four games. And yet, after a record-breaking 45 minutes of dominance from Bayern in the Allianz Arena, one man still believed that the habit of a little madness in the game would once again take hold between Bayern and Heidenheim.
A trick in the team talk
The visitors' head coach Frank Schmidt had prescribed a highly defensive tactic for his team after conceding 17 goals in eight previous Bundesliga matches - stand firm, don't go down, keep a clean sheet for as long as possible. Board up the goal and park the bus as tightly as possible, so to speak, by every trick in the book – roughly summarised, that was Heidenheim's approach. And anyone looking at the scoreboard as both teams emerged from the drizzle into the dry dressing room for the half-time break would confirm that the visitors had not done so badly given the circumstances.
For although Bayern set a new league record for dominance in the first 45 minutes of the match (86 percent possession), only one of the 12 shots on goal that Vincent Kompany's team had taken up to that point had found the net. That came from Dayot Upamecano's header from a Joshua Kimmich corner. Otherwise, Bayern moved the ball through their own ranks with such dominance that it was as if Heidenheim were not even allowed to touch it. Not a single visiting player had more than 20 touches of the ball. Thomas Müller even attempted a bicycle kick on one occasion. Heidenheim had no choice but to chase bravely, non-stop, incessantly. “I told my team: No matter what happened before, it's only 1-0. And in football, things can get crazy sometimes,” Schmidt reminded his team in the dressing room.
A new playmaker
Kompany's changes to the team were also noteworthy. Injuries had forced the Bayern coach to make five changes from the cup tie against Bayer Leverkusen. Daniel Peretz started in goal for the first time in a Bundesliga match; Aleksander Pavlović and Thomas Müller came into the starting XI, as did Michael Olise. Raphaël Guerreiro took up the playmaker position.
Bayern continued to set the pace and rhythm. However, they were guilty of a momentous lapse in judgement, when an attempted pass back ended up at the feet of Mathias Honsak, who rounded Peretz to slot home. First shot, first goal – you can't get more clinical. Bayern didn't falter, though. Substitute Jamal Musiala was drawn towards the visitors' goal like a magnet after Olise provided him with a beautiful pass. Three or four metres of space was all he needed to slot the ball home with a low shot to regain the lead. When Leon Goretzka also scored through a deflected long-range shot – Munich's 20th attempt on goal in the match - to make it 3-1, the encounter seemed to be over and done with. With just one, well, minor blemish. But wait a minute. This was a game against Heidenheim, after all.
“The first half was very good, the counter-pressing worked very well,” praised Kompany, “We also remained calm in the second half.” This was despite the fact that the visitors were allowed another dangerous chance in front of the Bayern goal and scored again. Omar Traoré got round Alphonso Davies, found Leonardo Scienza, who laid off to Niklas Dorsch, who only had to slot it in. Suddenly it was 3-2 with five minutes to go. “Unfortunately, we made life a bit difficult for ourselves. We were brutally dominant and then let it become a close game,” said a frustrated Christoph Freund, Bayern's sporting director.
The special tradition of madness
Heidenheim now threw everything forward, believing in the special tradition of madness in this fixture, but this time it backfired. Following a pass in behind from Guerreiro, Musiala made a breakaway and finished confidently to make the final score 4-2. “The attempt at a bicycle kick didn't go so well. My muscles were a bit tight, I couldn't move after the break, but it wasn't that bad,” Müller revealed later, also hinting that it was perhaps all part of one of his big plans: “I don't think making way for Jamal was the stupidest idea.” It took until Bayern's 21st shot of the game to score the fourth. Heidenheim had only needed two shots for their two goals. But that was the end of the madness, at least for this time.
The reaction to the game:
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