Huang Sijun, Special Correspondent for Sports Weekly All-Media
Heidenheim's status as deputy squad leader is only a few seconds away from causing the biggest upset in the Bundesliga this season. With the help of the so-called "Bayern Dusel", in the 10th minute of stoppage time, Olise's long shot hit the post and then rebounded to the feet of goalkeeper Ramai who fell to the ground to save. Finally, with a strong spin, it slowly rolled across the goal line, 3 to 3! In this way, Bayern has come back to life again. Although it has not been able to achieve victory in three consecutive rounds, it has regained 29 points (8 wins and 5 draws) from behind this season, setting a new Bundesliga historical record. Bayern avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this season before facing Paris Saint-Germain at home next Wednesday night. However, they missed out on equaling the Bundesliga single-season record of 91 points set in the 2012/13 Treble-winning season.
Goretzka sounds the clarion call for counterattack
For this Bundesliga match between the two rounds in Paris, Bayern fans probably care more about whether the main players can get enough rest and avoid injuries, rather than records or wins and losses. Kompany continues to rotate significantly, and this time only Jonathan Ta, Stanisic, Pavlovich and Musiala remain in the starting lineup. With Neuer, Kimmich and Kane all taking turns, Jonathan Tower, who made his 50th official appearance on behalf of Bayern, wore the captain's armband for the first time.
Zivchivadze opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and scored in 4 consecutive league games.
Because Gnabry, Rafael Guerrero and Lennart Carr were injured, Bayern lacked sufficient substitutes in the frontcourt. Kompany had to arrange a strange formation between 4231 and 433. Pavlovic's position was between the right winger and the defensive midfielder. Laimer played the position of Luis Dias. Musiala was closer to the center than Nicholas Jackson, who would appear more on the right. As sports director Freund said after the game: "There are still some outstanding players on the field, but we basically have no real wingers.".
Because the formation and the position of individual players on the field seemed awkward, Bayern naturally played awkwardly. Its offense basically could only rely on long-range shots to carry out attempts that were as ineffective as scratching an itch through boots. This kind of offense lacked depth and threat, and the frontcourt put insufficient pressure and containment on the opponent, which in turn led to a significant increase in pressure on the defense. Just like Mainz 05, which scored three goals in the first half against Bayern in the last round and temporarily led 3-0, Heidenheim also used the opportunity of a second attack from a corner kick to score the first goal. This goal was scored in the 22nd minute of the game by Georgian forward Zivchivadze, who has been in excellent form recently, giving Heidenheim a 1-0 advantage.
Less than 10 minutes later, right-wing back Busch sent out another assist. After getting the ball on the right side of the midfield, he made a little observation and suddenly passed the ball diagonally behind Jonathan Towers. Bayern's captain tried hard to chase back, but he did not take a step to intercept the pass. It seemed that He was counting on Kim Min-jae behind him to make up for it, but as a result, Kim Min-jae didn't chase back with all his strength, so Dinkucci quickly inserted into the penalty area, got ahead of Urbich's attack, lightly touched Urbich with his right toe, and directly passed Urbich, and then easily scored into the empty goal.
Goretzka pulled one back with a free kick before the end of the first half.
After Bayern played for about half an hour again, they were trailing 0-2. Fortunately, they did not lose the third goal before halftime like in the previous round. Instead, in the 44th minute, Goretzka pulled a point back and scored in a surprising way. Beyond everyone's expectations, it was a direct free kick. With the help of this free kick created by Musiala, Goretzka shot hard with his right foot from 25.5 meters away from the goal. The football flew straight to the upper left corner of the goal, so that Ramayi could only watch and salute.
This is only the sixth time Goretzka has taken a direct free kick in his Bundesliga career. It is also the first time since playing for Bayern. The goal is his second. On September 29, 2017, while representing Schalke 04 against Bayer Leverkusen, he was about 25 meters away from the goal on the right side of the center. With a wonderful curve ball, he looped into the right side of the goal and broke the goal guarded by Leno.
Olise scored a draw in the 100th minute
Unsurprisingly, Kompany arranged for Kane, Olise, Dias and Kimmich to play after the halftime break, so that these four main players could maintain the rhythm of the game. The three main players, Musiala, Pavlovich, and Stanisic, together with the young player Bala Sapoko Ndiaye, went off the court to rest. And the subsequent development of the plot seemed to be completely in line with the pre-expected estimates. In the 57th minute, Goretzka scored twice with the help of a corner kick for only the fourth time in his Bundesliga career, leveling the score to 2-2.
At that time, just when people thought that Bayern would turn the score disadvantage into victory with the same momentum as in the previous round, Heidenheim unexpectedly showed a strong rebound. Not long after Dinkic pushed the shot towards the goal, but was blocked by Urbich with great force, Heidenheim once again launched a quick counterattack along the left line. Zivchivazeli kept running towards the penalty area and suddenly stopped in the left area , cleverly dunked past Olise, who was actively chasing back, and then, 17 meters away from the goal, he used his right foot to kick out an arc that people couldn't help but praise, and flew straight towards the far corner of the goal. As a result, Heidenheim exceeded the score again!
Zivchivadze scored twice to help Heidenheim take the lead again in the 76th minute.
A fierce charge failed, and Bayern had no follow-up method. The siege was seeking speed but failed to achieve the goal. It seemed difficult to escape this fate. However, during stoppage time, a major accident occurred on the field. In the 92nd minute, Kimmich hoisted the ball in front of the goal. Scheppner rushed to clear the ball with a header before Ramayi. However, after Ramayi jumped up, he slammed into teammate Fronbach, who fell heavily and blood continued to flow from his nose. After the game, Heidenheim confirmed that Fronbach had a broken nose. Because the on-field treatment was delayed for a long time, the referee Willenberg raised four fingers, indicating that an additional 4 minutes of stoppage time would be added to the originally planned 5 minutes.
At the moment when stoppage time exceeded nine minutes, Bayern got its last chance. Kimmich took a corner kick from the left, Mainka and Hennes Behrens successively made headers to clear the siege. In the 77th minute, Alphonso Davis, who replaced Jona Donta, headed the ball to Olise. Olise successfully avoided Dinkic with the ball in the right rib area, and was 2 meters away He used his left foot to kick a curved ball from 5 meters away. The ball bounced off the ground and hit the left goal post before bouncing back into the field. It just hit the foot of Ramayi who was on the ground to save. Finally, it slowly rolled across the goal line. Bayern achieved a dramatic draw with an absolute score of 3-3! Karl scored a winner in the 99th minute when visiting Freiburg four weeks ago. After that, Olise now scored a draw in the 100th minute, thus scoring the latest goal in Bayern's history in the Bundesliga.
This season, Olise has scored his 14th goal in the Bundesliga. Bayern's "trident" of Kane, Dias and Olise has increased the total number of goals in various competitions this season to 101. Olise's goal was Bayern's 19th substitute goal in the Bundesliga this season, setting another historical record.
Ramayi looked at the ball eagerly, the ball rolled slowly, and then rolled across the goal line. In the end, Heidenheim lost the victory at the last minute.
Once the ball was scored, the game was over. Heidenheim players who had just missed the miracle collapsed on the court. Their hope of relegation became increasingly slim. Captain Mainka, who led the team to play 100 consecutive Bundesliga games, said: "We gave everything today "Stay on the field", the 31-year-old central defender became only the fourth player in the history of the Bundesliga to play the team's first 100 Bundesliga games, and all of his 100 Bundesliga appearances were played for the entire game. There was no situation of being substituted early, and he had not been sent off earlier. Since the Bundesliga introduced a three-substitution system in the 1995-96 season, Mainka became the first player to have played the full game in 100 consecutive games.
This is not the first time that Heidenheim has brought such big trouble to Bayern. As early as the 2018/19 season, Heidenheim, which was in the Bundesliga 2 at the time, once led 2-1 when visiting the Allianz Arena, and then fell behind 2-4 and tenaciously equalized the score. In the end, it only lost 4-5 and stopped in the German Cup quarter-finals. In his first season in the Bundesliga, when Heidenheim visited Allianz, he fell behind 0-2 in the first half, but stubbornly equalized the score to 2-2. The final score was 2-4. Although he was defeated, he was mentioned by everyone after the game. Back at home, the team led by Frank Schmidt once again fell behind 0-2 at halftime, but eventually reversed Bayern coached by Tuchel 3-2.
When they went to Munich as a guest last season, Heidenheim was still the invincible little power. They evened the score to 1-1 at the beginning of the second half. Bayern's old player Dosch tied the score to 2-3 in the 85th minute. It was not until Musiala in stoppage time that Bayern finally secured a 4-2 victory. There is certainly a reason why this small club, which has always maintained a budget at the Bundesliga level, has been able to compete in the Bundesliga for three consecutive years. Even if there is a high probability that he will return to the Bundesliga after this season, Heidenheim has left enough exciting games and stories in the Bundesliga.
Conceded too many goals? Bayern 'will respond'
Of course, Bayern is in no mood to pity their opponents. Their thoughts have already flown to the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Paris next Wednesday night. Kompany said: "We must always respect our opponents. This kind of life-or-death situation sometimes brings great strength to the team. Heidenheim played very smoothly in the first half, but we were not like this. I understand that everything cannot be perfect, but we can save the defeat time and time again, and it is not pie in the sky. Now that the game is over, everyone remains healthy, which is what we want. Now we can focus on Wednesday's game."
Goretzka can't wait for the second round with Paris.
Starting from the thrilling 4-3 victory over Real Madrid at home, Bayern has only kept a clean sheet in the last 6 games in the German Cup semi-finals when it defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 away from home. The number of goals conceded in the remaining 5 games reached an astonishing 16, which gives people the feeling of returning to Flick's second season (2020/21). season), people can't help but worry that the high defensive strategy has lost its effectiveness due to the decline in players' physical fitness and concentration. Kompany responded: "I have also played as a defender in the past, and I know what it feels like to lose a lot of balls in a week. We discussed this issue last year, and I said then that we must stay calm." Then, we have reached a situation where we have not conceded a goal in 8 consecutive games. I think we can always respond to setbacks, and we must do that again now. We need to rely on our defenders and respond based on the overall state of the team, and Wednesday is the most appropriate time. ".
Kimmich said that Bayern in the Champions League will not change its playing style when facing Paris just because it wants to reduce conceding goals. "Three days after the Champions League, we will not change our style. We will just stay in the backcourt to defend. We must win, whether it is another 5-4 win, a 3-2 win, or a 1-0 win." , Of course, from a long-term perspective, we need to make some adjustments and analyze this, and we have already discussed this." Regarding the game that ended in a 3-3 draw, Kimmich said: "This is definitely not our best game, but it has nothing to do with the Champions League game."
Bayern almost lost. At the same time, Paris Saint-Germain experienced a Ligue 1 match at home against the mid-table team Lorient. Paris Saint-Germain lost points at home in this game and was eventually tied 2-2 by its opponent. However, because second-ranked Lens also suffered a draw with Nice, Paris Saint-Germain still leads the standings with a 6-point advantage. Luis Enrique made a more intensive rotation, and he only left Pacho and Douai in the starting lineup. Among them, Pacho was on the court for the entire game and Douai played 75 minutes. In the first round against Bayern, there were two young midfielders, Zaire Emery and Joao Neves. They both came on as substitutes after 60 minutes. There were also generals such as Ousmane Dembele, Kvaratzhelia, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Marquinhos, who were completely rested. Due to Achraf Hakimi's injury, Zaire Emery should switch to right-back, so Favian Ruiz is likely to start next Wednesday night. The Spanish midfielder played an hour in this league game.
As in the first round, the only doubt in Bayern's starting lineup is which of the three full-backs Stanisic, Laimer and Davis will sit on the bench at the start of the game. In the first round, Davis replaced Laimer as the starting left back, but was substituted after halftime. Kompany later stated that the reason for this was because Davis felt some discomfort in his leg. Based on Laimer's arrangement of playing the full 90 minutes against Heidenheim, Davis has the possibility of serving as the starting left back again next Wednesday night. Of course, the possibility of Laimer replacing Stanisic, who had an unsatisfactory performance in the first round, as right back cannot be ruled out.
"Everyone in red on Wednesday" – this is the call from the Allianz South Stand.
So, will Goretzka unexpectedly enter the starting lineup next Wednesday night with his outstanding performance in scoring twice in this game? The possibility of this is very, very slim, especially considering that his performance after replacing Musiala in the first round was not very ideal. But no matter what happens, "Magnetic Card" is full of expectations for the next decisive game against Paris. "Those boys are already gearing up. I already have goosebumps. I think there will be a boiling state here on Wednesday. I am the same as everyone, and I have very high hopes for this game." We just want to successfully advance to the final. Kompany once again emphasized that the team needs the support of more than 70,000 fans in the Allianz Arena. If something serious happens, it will definitely be at this stadium, and it will be a unique football match.