Following the firing of former head coach Julian Nagelsmann and his subsequent replacement with Thomas Tuchel, Die Roten left it until almost literally the last minute to clinch the league title. Without Jamal Musiala's late winning goal against Köln, Bayern would have surrendered the league title to arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund. Additionally, Bayern were soundly beaten in the Champions League quarterfinals, losing 4-1 on aggregate to eventual champions Manchester City.
Heading into this season, Bayern knew they would have to switch things up if they were to make a genuine Champions League title challenge. The Bavarian club made many major roster changes this past off-season. A total of 20 players left Bayern including Lucas Hernandez, Mané, Benjamin Pavard, and Ryan Gravenberch. It was the money generated from these departures that bankrolled the big-money signings of Kim Min-jae from Napoli and Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur.
This new-look Bayern squad started their 2023-24 Champions League campaign with a 4-3 home victory over Manchester United. Bayern entered half-time with a 2-0 lead via goals scored by Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry. United striker Rasmus Højlund and Kane traded goals shortly after the break. Casemiro scored two late goals for United to reduce the deficit, but Mathys Tel added another for Bayern in between to clinch all three points.
Although Bayern were widely expected to win this match, they nevertheless showed that they are at least close to, if not at, their level of two seasons ago. Having decisively outplayed United for the vast majority of the match, Bayern were somewhat unfortunate to win by just one goal. Bayern actually had two shots strike the post.
Bayern's revamped attack appears poised to do significant damage to opposing defenses for the rest of the season. Kane has slotted into the starting centre-forward spot seamlessly and his synergy with Musiala, Gnabry, and Sané has been obvious. Bayern have now regained that attacking punch which left with Lewandowski and had largely been missing throughout last season. The €100 million that Bayern paid Tottenham to sign Kane is quickly turning out to be money wisely spent.
Bayern's impressive depth was also clearly on display. Kingsley Coman and Tel were both highly impressive off the bench, while Matthijs de Ligt did not even enter the match. To win the Champions League, it takes more than just the superstars. This is a seriously loaded Bayern team - very much more so than last season's iteration. On this Bayern team, players like Coman, Tel, de Ligt, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Raphaël Guerreiro, and Thomas Müller - all players who would be regular starters at almost any other club - do not even receive regular playing time. With a bench unit of that calibre, Bayern are well-positioned to endure the war of attrition that is the Champions League.
That being said, almost no one would claim Bayern to be the outright favourites to win it all at the moment. Barça, City, and Real Madrid are the consensus picks in the early going. If there is any area of concern for Bayern, it would be at centre-back. Neither de Ligt nor Dayot Upamecano have been all that impressive thus far. This has been reflected in a key weakness of Bayern's this season - frequent loss of possession in threatening areas. It would not be all that surprising to see Bayern pursue a backup or even starting centre-back to be played alongside Kim during the January transfer window.
Bayern Munich have been a Champions League staple for close to two decades now. Since the 2004-05 season, Bayern have been absent from the Champions League quarterfinals on just four occasions and only twice since 2008-09 - a statistic to which they will almost certainly add this season. The real question, of course, is what will happen once they reach that point. In any case, the match against United as well as the Bundesliga victories before it have made it clear: Bayern are well and truly back.
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