Chapter 69: The Terrifying Bayern
Gerd Muller has always been upset about Bayern's loss to Chelsea in the Champions League final last season.
In that game, Bayern had the upper hand and kept pressing Chelsea, but they just couldn't score a goal.
Robben, Ribery, Gomez, Muller and others missed scoring opportunities one after another, and were eventually dragged into a penalty shootout by their opponents, regrettably losing the game.
If Bayern had a player like Lin Quan last season who is sharp in small-area dribbling, good at breakthroughs and positioning, the result might have been completely different.
After falling behind, Bayern immediately launched a frenzied counterattack.
If we say that at the beginning of the game, Bayern was still considering saving their strength for the Champions League game four days later and did not try their best in the game.
At this time, they were completely enraged and had already forgotten about the Champions League! They were like an angry lion, madly attacking Werder Bremen! Bayern Munich's offensive was like a wave, wave after wave, constantly impacting Werder Bremen's defense.
Werder Bremen is like a small boat in a storm, and may be swallowed up by the opponent's offensive wave at any time.
In order to defend their own goal, almost all of Werder Bremen's players retreated to their own half. Even center forward Arnautovic retreated to the center circle to participate in the defense. Bayern's half was so empty that people could run around!
The situation on the field was completely controlled by Bayern Munich. They continued to launch offensives and threatened Werder Bremen's goal again and again.
However, Bayern's luck seemed to be not very good. They had a total of 11 shots in the first half, but only 3 hit the goal frame and failed to score a goal.
Finally, after 45 minutes of hard fighting, the first half ended and Bayern Munich returned to the locker room with a one-goal disadvantage.
On the other side, although Werder Bremen's players were leading by one goal, there was no sign of joy on the team's part. The only sound in the locker room was the players' heavy breathing.
In the final stage of the first half, Bayern's attack was so fierce. Their impact was too strong, and they were very good at using repeated cooperation to pull and tear open Werder Bremen's defense.
If it weren't for the players of Werder Bremen running at all costs, using diligent running and active fighting to make up for the lack of technology and awareness, and barely stabilizing the defense, they would have been defeated by Bayern at this time! However, the price of doing so was also very high. After only playing for one and a half games, the players of Werder Bremen felt unprecedented fatigue.
At this rate of consumption, they will definitely not be able to finish the second half. The players may run out of energy after playing for 60 or 70 minutes.
In the locker room, the physiotherapists are taking the time to give the players massages to relax them.
Coach Schaaf was deploying tactics for the second half to his players.
"You played very well in the first half, I'm proud of you, but the game isn't over yet, it's not time for us to be happy yet!"
"In the second half, Bayern will definitely continue to strengthen their attack. Robben, Gomez and others will be substituted in, and our flanks will face even more severe tests!"
The players nodded one after another. Ribery alone made things very difficult for them in the first half.
If Robben plays again and Bayern's Robben-Richard combination is activated, their front-line offensive firepower will be taken to a higher level.
This is a huge test for Werder Bremen's defense!
"So, this is how we played in the second half..."
…
On the other side, in the visiting team's locker room.
After Heynckes arranged the offensive tactics for the second half, he found the team's striker Pizarro and said to him: "Claudio, the team is in adversity and needs veteran players like you to stand up!"
"Coach, just give me your orders, and I will follow them to the letter!"
"Very good, I will replace you in about 60 minutes, so after you come on the court in the second half, don't worry about the consumption of physical energy. Do everything you can to attack the opponent's back line and consume the physical energy of their defenders. Whether the team can win the game depends on the consumption of energy by you and Kroos!"
Heynckes saw Werder Bremen's physical problems, so he planned to make substitutions around 60 minutes into the second half.
The two players who were substituted were forward Pizarro and midfielder Kroos.
Before replacing these two players, he hoped that they would run more, attack the opponent's defense more, and consume the opponent.
In this way, when the substitute players are familiar with the rhythm of the game and officially get into the game, they can just catch up with the opponent's bottleneck period of physical exhaustion.
In Bayern's lineup, Pizarro is not an absolute star.
As he is older, he no longer has any advantage over Gomez and Mandzukic.
Therefore, Heynckes never had high expectations for him, but used him as a tool.
When Pizarro heard the old marshal's words, he nodded expressionlessly.
Although he was unwilling in his heart, he had no choice but to accept it.
After all, he is just an unimportant rotation player in Bayern, and his status is far from the absolute core when he was in Werder Bremen.
Being able to play football is already a good result for him. What else can he hope for?
At the beginning of the second half, Bayern continued to speed up the pace of the game.
The ball flew back and forth in Werder Bremen's penalty area, and Werder Bremen's goal was once again severely tested.
Shaft held his chin, a look of worry in his eyes.
He could clearly feel that Bayern players were fighting more fiercely and more aggressively, especially midfielder Kroos and striker Pizarro.
The two men seemed to not care about the physical consumption at all. They ran and attacked Werder Bremen's defense tirelessly.
In order to defend against them, Werder Bremen even received a yellow card.
Schaff subconsciously looked towards the coaching seat on the other side, guessing the intentions of coach Heynckes.
Bayern's bench is so luxurious that they will definitely make personnel adjustments in the second half.
He had already guessed who would be substituted; it must be Pizarro and Kroos.
Because with their current style of play, the players' physical fitness is simply not enough to support them to play the entire game.
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Heynckes is really ruthless. He uses this method to consume Werder Bremen, but Werder Bremen has no way to deal with it.
Schaff glanced at his team's bench and could only shake his head.
Their bench depth cannot be compared with Bayern Munich.
In the 60th minute, the fourth official raised the substitution card and Bayern Munich took the lead in making personnel adjustments.
No. 10 Robben came on to replace No. 39 Kroos.
No. 9 Mandzukic came on to replace No. 14 Pizarro.
Seeing the opponent's personnel adjustment, Schaff immediately stood up from the coaching seat.
Mandzukic!? Bayern Munich didn't play Gomez, but played Mandzukic?
Originally, Gomez sprained his ankle in the Telecom Cup match against Werder Bremen and underwent surgery before resting for 3 months.
But during this time, although Gomez was also injured, the injury was not to his ankle, but to his thigh strain. He recovered after resting for six weeks.
In the last round of the game, Gomez played for the team and scored a goal, so there is absolutely no problem with his condition.
In the end, Heynckes did not replace him, but replaced him with Mandzukic? Schaff was a little confused about Heynckes' intention, because in his opinion, Gomez must be better than Mandzukic, and Gomez and Bayern's teammates have a tacit understanding, and he is much more adapted to Bayern's tactics than Mandzukic, a newcomer who transferred in the summer window.
But Heynckes just didn't use him! This made Schaff a little nervous. The opponent's substitution was beyond his expectations and made him feel inexplicably worried.
After Robben and Mandzukic came on, Bayern's style of play changed again.
Robbery's connection was activated, and Robben started to make crazy breakthroughs and cut inside on the right.
Elijah, whose physical strength had long been reduced, was unable to defend against the opponent and was passed by him again and again.
Moreover, with Mandzukic as the high point in the penalty area, Bayern's header threat is greatly increased.
After just five minutes on the pitch, Mandzukic completed two shots on goal, both of which were extremely threatening!
Schaff realized that something was wrong and immediately made personnel adjustments. He replaced Elia with Lukimya, using his height and strong physical fitness to limit Mandzukic.
At the same time, he asked captain Fritz to move forward from the left back position to the defensive midfielder position and started playing double defensive midfielder to increase the protection of the front of the penalty area.
However, this approach did not achieve good results. On the contrary, after Elia left the field, Robben had more room to move on the right.
In the 75th minute of the game, Robben received a pass from his teammate on the right and dribbled the ball.
After crossing positions with Ribery, he suddenly made a cross from the bottom to Mandzukic in the penalty area.
Mandzukic had the chance to shoot himself, but after he stopped the ball with his chest, he set up a shot for his teammate and passed it to Ribery who came in from behind.
Ribery did not waste the good opportunity created by his teammates. He shot the ball into Werder Bremen's goal and equalized the score!
Werder Bremen's lead for most of the game was gone!
(End of this chapter)