Mental victory! Bayern defy Leverkusen with fighting spirit

In the end, you saw images that FC Bayern Munich rarely produce: shouts of joy, hugs, clenched fists – but in front of their own goal, with the next big Leverkusen chance having been defended. Knees, socks, and Bayern jerseys full of grass and mud stains: evidence of the great fight, the passion, the concentrated defensive work. And the happy faces of the Munich players around captain Manuel Neuer, Konrad Laimer and Dayot Upamecano, who was once again as strong as ever in Glasgow during the week – even though the scoreboard in the BayArena showed a goalless 0-0.

It was a draw between the league leaders and the runners-up, which ultimately allows for two interpretations – depending on which side you were rooting for. TV pundit Lothar Matthäus spoke of a game that Bayern “won 0-0”. The eight-point lead with twelve match days to go was ultimately maintained thanks to the Bavarian defence, which held firm until the end. And then there was the other perspective, like that of Leverkusen's Granit Xhaka. The midfielder said: “We feel like we lost. We put in a great performance, we had so many chances. If you don't take your chances against such a top team, it's very bitter. We should have left the pitch as winners today.”

In fact, Bayer 04 had several chances to take the lead, hitting the FC Bayern crossbar twice in the first half. Later, Hiroki Ito, in the starting eleven for the first time in a competitive match, cleared the ball with his head on the Munich goal line. And in the final moments of the match, Manuel Neuer demonstrated his sharp reflexes before the follow-up shot landed just wide of the goal. But it wasn't just luck that saved FC Bayern in the highly anticipated top-pf-the-table clash in Leverkusen. No, it was also the mentality, the will, the resistance that somehow forced Bayer 04 to stop scoring. “We're going home with a point, which is perhaps fortunate,” explained Neuer, “but in the past it's been the other way round.”

The momentum soon turned

This time, FC Bayern were only in control of the rhythm of the game in the very early stages. As usual, the visitors had plenty of possession and dominated the opening fifteen minutes of the top-of-the-table clash. However, the momentum then turned as Bayer defended aggressively and with great effort man-to-man across the entire pitch. “They dared to press against us for the first time today,” said Thomas Müller in amazement: “And you have to admit that this tactic worked.”

FC Bayern now struggled to gain possession, found themselves in reverse gear and, above all, surprisingly had to defend. After losing the ball, Leverkusen immediately made bold and courageous runs and thus often won the ball back again. “The plan is always to play football and press up front. We didn't manage that today,” said Aleksandar Pavlović: “the pressing made it difficult for us to get out the back in a controlled manner.”

And so, the priority was soon to prevent Leverkusen's fresh legs, after a week without a competitive match, from overrunning FC Bayern, who were still feeling the effects of Wednesday's dramatic 2-1 at Celtic. “We fought hard and fought for the point. That was the maximum we could do today against a really good Leverkusen team,” said a delighted Christoph Freund, the sporting director. “We brought the virtues that were required today onto the pitch.”

Thomas Müller revealed that head coach Vincent Kompany had even included these virtues in his training programme recently: “We've worked a lot on improving our work in the penalty areas, where the goals are scored. We practised box defending. And if you want to take something positive out of today, we blocked a lot there and defended a lot as a team.” Indeed, Joshua Kimmich, Dayot Upamecano, Minjae Kim and even attacking specialst Michael Olise repeatedly blocked Leverkusen's furious attempts on goal. Harry Kane worked far back into his own half. All the wingers were tied up in defensive work – in short, everyone fought for every inch of turf. With the result that, at the end of the evening, little was created forwards, but the all important clean sheet was kept at the back. “That's definitely a positive result for us in these intense weeks,” concluded Thomas Müller: “when the momentum isn't on your side like it was today, you have to hold your own – and we did that well.”

Dayot Upamecano once again earned special praise in this defensive battle. After the match, it was almost a little surprising that he didn't have any engine oil on his shirt, with the French international defender having worked so hard in the engine of FC Bayern’s defence: “he's on a really good path, he's become a leader. He's playing really well and consistently at a high level,” said Christoph Freund. “His importance is growing all the time. I'm also pleased for him because he's been criticised from time to time. Our style of play suits him very well, you can see that. He feels very comfortable.” Vincent Kompany also emphasised the team spirit ahead of the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Celtic Glasgow at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday: “The team showed a great mentality in defence,” praised the head coach. “Bayer did a lot of things right today. But we showed the mentality to block shots, defend crosses and work as a team at the back, with Harry, Jamal and everyone else who normally scores goals.” And so, in the end, when the floodlights were switched off in Leverkusen late on Saturday evening, FC Bayern went home with an unfamiliar feeling: it was a 0-0 draw that actually felt a bit like they had won.