Talking Tactics: How Bayern Munich have wrestled back some of the advantage from their rivals this season

The all-German final awaits us at Wembley tonight when Borussia Dortmund will meet Bayern Munich to decide who gets to take home this season’s UEFA Champions League crown.

SEASON HEAD TO HEAD

Games: 4 |Dortmund: 0 | Bayern: 2 | Draws: 2

In their successful Bundesliga run this year, Bayern pretty much obliterated every side in the league. Dortmund though defied them forcing draws in both of their encounters. Yet, Bayern have managed to wrest the advantage slightly from their rivals this term.

Bayern beat Dortmund 2-1 in the DFL Supercup (equivalent of the English Community Shield) right at the beginning of the season. Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Müller were the scorers on that occasion. Bayern also dumped them out of the DFB Pokal Cup in the quarterfinals, a superb Arjen Robben strike taking care of business. Both league meetings ended 1-1; the first was in December in which Mario Götze cancelled out Toni Kroos’ strike to earn a point for his current team. The second was a dead rubber in May, with the league title already wrapped up and both teams fielding reserves ahead of the big clash in the Champions League final.

This is a match up that the Black and Yellow have had the upper hand in during recent seasons. Ever since Jürgen Klopp’s arrival at the Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund have enjoyed much success against their more illustrious counterparts. Of the last 10 meetings between the 2 clubs, Dortmund have won 5 of them while losing just 2. Last season, they secured 1-0 wins home and away in the league, while dishing out a 5-2 thrashing, that included a Robert Lewandowski hat-trick, in the final of the DFB Pokal Cup (German Cup). In 2010-11 too, their first title winning season under Klopp, they did the double over Bayern winning 2-0 at home and 3-1 at the Allianz with Nuri Sahin having an outstanding game on both occasions.

CHANGE OF PERSONNEL & LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

So what did the trick for Bayern? How have they managed to get better against Dortmund while also becoming a more dominant force in the league?

Three reasons – Javi Martinez, Mario Mandzukic and Dante.

You have to appreciate how Bayern went about their summer transfer business. All buys were strategic in nature executed with a specific objective in mind and to cover up major weaknesses. And these 3 players have fitted in as the missing pieces of the Bayern puzzle in their respective roles.

JAVI MARTINEZ

There were gasps of breath that went around Germany including Bavaria when news broke that Bayern Munich have activated the release clause of Athletic Bilbao midfielder Javi Martinez. The Spaniard is a World Cup & European championship winner, but €40 million was an exorbitant sum, and was met with mixed feelings. His immense contribution in this Bayern team’s success will no doubt have pleased those 

Bayern fans while being a source of consternation for the rest of the Bundesliga and Europe.

Martinez plays as the holding midfielder along with club vice-captain Bastian Schweinsteiger. Previously, Schweinsteiger used to partner with Luiz Gustavo and at times, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk. Schweinsteiger is easily one of the best in his position in the world, but when they played Dortmund, he would end up facing the potent combination of Nuri Sahin/Lars Bender and afterwards Lars Bender/Ilkay Gundogan, after Sahin 

left for Real Madrid in 2011.

Dortmund’s high tempo attacking game with high energy pressing has caught the everyone's eyes. Up against them, Schweinsteiger used to get swamped by the yellow shirts because neither of Tymoshchuk or Gustavo could ever keep up with them. As a result, the German international spent a lot of time combating that midfield engine room of Dortmund’s which limited his participation in Bayern’s attacks.

Now he has a riding partner in Martinez, and the guy is an absolute terrier. At your heels all the time, the Spaniard has a terrific work rate and does not afford time and space to opposition midfielders when they have the ball at their feet. We got to witness this in both the semis and quarters, during Bayern’s games with Barcelona and Juventus respectively.

Lionel Messi was not 100%, true, but there was still the threat of Andres Iniesta to be met with. Even in games where Messi is well-marked, Iniesta has often popped up with the goods for them. Iniesta didn’t even have so much of a sniff as Martinez and Schweinsteiger cleaned crop. Against Juve, he did such a stellar job on Claudio Marchisio, that the Italian merely ghosted through the 2 legs as failed to get anything going for his team. The 2 together along with Ribery, Robben and Muller outworked and out-hustled Juve’s industrious midfield which is no easy task.The duo work very well in tandem as Martinez predominantly goes about winning the ball back and providing it to the German, who then recycles it and initiates a Bayern attack. So, now Schweinsteiger does not get overrun anymore and Bayern are able to combat Gundogan and Bender.

DANTE

Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng and Daniel Van Buyten used to take care of centre-back duties for Bayern in previous seasons. All 3 are good in the air, but neither was really a top level defender; Badstuber is essentially a left-back who started playing at centre, Boateng while good with aerial ability, is slow off the ground and lacks the pace to keep up with quick forwards. Van Buyten, now a veteran falls pretty much in the same category. In addition, Badstuber and Boateng were not the best in keeping their defensive shape, be it playing for offside or sitting deep with zonal marking. Dortmund with Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic held the upper hand here.

The Afro sporting Brazilian Dante was bought for €4.5 million from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Dante has come in and provided a ready fix to all of Bayern’s teething problems in defence. Thanks to him, the Bavarian giants have new found solidity at the back. Very good in organizing the defence, Dante is superb in the air, always a threat from set pieces and reads the game very well. He also has the quickness to deal with pacy strikers. In the past, Robert Lewandowski and Lucas Barrio have had the better of the Bayern defence often bullying them into submission. Last year’s Champions League final too was a fine example as we saw Didier Drogba boss Boateng, Van Buyten and Badstuber.

Finally, as is the case with most Brazilians, Dante is an excellent ball playing defender like David Luiz and Thiago Silva. And that’s an added quality which none of the other three can provide Jupp Heynckes with. With excellent full-backs on either side, Dante has plugged a major loophole that previously existed in the middle of defence.

MARIO MANDZUKIC

Croatian striker Mandzukic is the other major signing that has had an impact in the change of fortune for Bayern. Bought from Wolfsburg for €13 million, the striker has had a remarkable debut season with 21 goals. But more than his goals, it is the way he attacks the centre-backs of the opponent that often leads to stray passes and Bayern winning the ball back in dangerous areas of the field. Relentless and tireless is how the Croatian can be described. He does not boast of any extraordinary skill, but he is a top notch poacher. He is very good in the air, can win most aerial duels and makes fine runs to get into good positions in the box.

One would say that in Mario Gomez, Bayern already had that 20-goals-a-season striker. But, Gomez was never really active on defence and committed to pressing. Also, the Croatian can make his own shot, while Gomez used to rely on service into the box. In short, in Mandzukic, they have a striker who replicates the work that Lewandowski puts in for Dortmund. Against Juventus and Arsenal, Mandzukic constantly kept harrying and harassing the defenders and sums up how Bayern have adopted Dortmund’s ‘gegenpressing’ style, from front to back.

THE FULL BACKS & WINGERS

For Bayern Munich, their predominant outlet of attack is the wings, where Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller can use their pace and guile to good use. Their full-backs Philip Lahm and David Alaba make for one of the best pairings in the world and they constantly bombard forward to support their wingers.

What’s changed is that the 2 wingers, Robben and Ribery, are now tracking back to help out their colleagues in defence. Müller has always been committed on defence, but the dedication of the other 2 to Heynckes’ system has just made Munich that much harder to beat.

Again, they have taken a leaf out of Dortmund’s book, because that is exactly what Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski and Kevin Grosskreutz used to do for their defence and something which newcomer Marco Reus has continued. They are by no means, defensive-minded; ‘Kuba’ has 14 goals and 12 assists this season, Reus has 19 goals and 11 assists. But, their double-teaming on defence meant that Robben and Ribery were kept quiet in previous seasons and on the defensive end, Lahm and Alaba often found themselves with a 2-on-1 mismatch as Lukasz Piszczek and Marcel Schmelzer joined the attacks.

And that’s how Jupp Heynckes has managed to get his side to match up with Dortmund. As Jürgen Klopp pointed out, his team are still one of the few in the continent who can hurt Bayern. But, that gap has been bridged, with smart buys and by adopting some of their rival’s best practices. Together, the combination has worked wonders for Bayern and victory tonight will cement that shift of power that they have managed to achieve in the past 12 months. 

The Bayern Juggernaut rolls on

Jupp Heynckes, the 67 year old manager of Bayern Munich had this to say after his team's decimation of Barcelona on Tuesday night: ""We've been playing extraordinary football all season. It was not a really big surprise to me that we scored four goals. We have played to a high level all season."

THE BEATING
The beating that Barcelona received at the hands of Heynckes' team was a first; it was the first time any team had suffered a 4-0 defeat in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. For a lot of Barca fans as well as other football aficionados not entirely attuned to the exploits of Bayern Munich this season, the result was a shocker. But, as Heynckes so gleefully pointed out, they have been playing "extraordinary football" all season and this result was if anything, a strong reinforcement of that very fact.

“They were physically very strong,’’ said Xavi. “In fact they were superior. We didn't create chances. It’s a dreadful result. No excuses.’’ added Xavi afterwards. “They have been the better team and we congratulate them.” This is an uncharacteristic line towed by Barca and Xavi, where upon previous exits to Chelsea and Inter Milan, the Spanish midfielder had taken the moral high ground saying the opposition did not play football the right way and that they attempted to play a 'dirty' game.

Tuesday's beating though was different. There was a sense amongst almost all Barca players that they had just been taken to the cleaners by a far superior footballing unit. Lionel Messi too agreed: “Bayern were the better team, in everything,’’ said Barcelona’s No 10, who had clearly not recovered from a recent hamstring problem. “They’re stronger, scored twice from set-pieces, every second ball was for them.’’

Gerard Pique, never one to shy away from giving his thoughts was candid, “They thrashed us, the referee didn't have an influence. It is almost impossible for us, but we have to show some face in the return-leg. They were quicker, stronger and better.”

THE BAYERN BEAST

Bayern were Runners-Up to Chelsea in last year's edition of the Champions League. In all fairness, it was a game that they dominated, but somehow contrived to lose in front of their home supporters. That disappointment has only added to their desire to conquer all and sundry that appear before them this term. In making the semi-finals this year, Barcelona had achieved a rare distinction of making 6 consecutive semi-final appearances. It is in a way a fair reflection of the dominance that the team from Catalonia has exerted on this competition.

The German club have not been far behind; Heynckes has led Bayern to two of the last three finals, and a third in four years, looks an inevitability after Tuesday's demolition job. The sourness from their inability to cross the final hurdle on a couple of occasions still lingers and Heynckes pointed it out after the game - "Falling short of success in the past two years has only made them hungrier to win this year. The tactical awareness of this team is top notch as well, just like their willingness to run and fight for one another. Today's (Tuesday's) game was a perfect example of that."

This is a team that has been built carefully by Heynckes, who will be stepping down at the end of the year. After being outgunned to the Bundesliga title the last two years by Borussia Dortmund, Bayern addressed key areas of the squad in the summer. In central defence, Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber, were being exposed against more physical teams and pacy forwards. Dante, the tall bushy-haired Brazilian defender, was bought from Borussia Monchengladbach for about €4 million to help solve matters. The second piece of the puzzle was securing the services of Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao for a record transfer fee of €40 million. Mario Mandzukic after his stellar season last year for Wolfsburg, was poached for €13 million and the Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri was purchased from FC Basel for €9 million to beef up the attack.

The addition of these players has helped address some of the shortcomings from previous seasons. Bayern have conceded only 14 goals in 30 Bundesliga games, an average of 0.46 goals per game, the best out of any leading side in the respective leagues - Barcelona have conceded 33 from 32 games (1.03), PSG 20 from 33 (0.60), Juventus 20 from 33 (0.60), Manchester United 35 from 34 (1.03), Ajax 31 from 31 (1.00).

They are also pressing the ball a lot better thereby allowing teams very little time on the ball. Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi constantly found themselves shackled and harassed by a player in a red shirt and the various channels that Barca constantly use were expertly cut out. ”You have got to analyse how an opponent plays, where they run, how they attack. Then find something you can hold against that. And I did that, I had a PowerPoint presentation, you could see all the runs they do. Defensively we were very strong, we worked very hard. Barcelona couldn't really do anything, they had one and a half chances.“, added Heynckes complimenting his team on their superlative effort.

The Bavarian giants have lost just 3 games all season, 1 in the league and 2 in the Champions League. Bayer Leverkusen are the only ones who have managed to upstage the Red Army of Munich domestically, while BATE Borisov and Arsenal registered unexpected convincing wins over them in Europe. Those results were merely an aberration in a season where the word 'thumping' has followed quite a few of Bayern's footballing encounters. Tuesday night was the 14th instance where Bayern had scored 4 or more goals in a match in all competitions. Over the weekend, they destroyed Hannover 6-1, even after the title had been well wrapped up and with several first-team regulars not playing! (Just to add, Hannover are 11th in the German league and not a bottom club). In 8 of those games, they've hit 5 or more - Stuttgart (6-1), Fortuna Dusseldorf (5-0), Hannover (5-0, 6-1), Werder Bremen (6-1), Hamburg (9-2), Wolfsburg (6-1), Lille (6-1) have all been at the receiving end of those maulings.

One striking feature of their play this season has been the spread of goals as well as the areas of attack. Of all their forward forays, 35% have come through the left flank, 39% through the right flank and 26% through the middle. In the Bundesliga, Mario Mandzukic is their top scorer with 15 goals while Thomas Muller has chipped in with 12 and the remainder of their 89 goals in total have come from others. Last year most of the goals were shared by Mario Gomez, who had 26 himself, and Ribery/Robben.

In the assist category, Franck Ribery, Muller and Philip Lahm are the joint top assisters in the Bundesliga with 10 each. Muller who bagged a double against Barca is their leading man in the Champions League with 7 and Bayern before Tuesday boasted one of the best attacks in this year's edition with 22 goals, second only to Real Madrid with 23.

The big picture hence shows a team that holds no dependence on any one player and hence Barca had an uphill task from the very first minute as they were going up against a superior team with strength and depth in all areas of the pitch and a team that has meticulously stuck to a system all year.


THE YOUNG BREED

Bayern's superb squad has been assembled with an excellent blend of marquee signings and young players who have come through from the Youth team. In fact, one of the features of Heynckes' current tenure has been his blooding of youngsters such as David Alaba, Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos who have made the transition from the youth team to being seasoned internationals amongst the best in the world.

The core of Bayern's team is made up of their own, players promoted through their academy. Both captain and vice-captain, Philip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger, are Bayern through and through, having joined the club as teenagers. Defenders David Alaba, who has been a revelation the last 2 seasons, along with Holger Badstuber also made the progression up from junior ranks.So have midfielders Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos. This composition has helped in the excellent team chemistry that these players share much like Barcelona do with their core having played with each other so often. And all these players are first-teamers occupying key positions for the Bundesliga giants.

With the likes of dangerous wingers such Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery also in the squad, this is a team that is as dangerous as they come and one that makes for a heady concoction of talent.

THE BRAINS

The contribution of Jupp Heynckes to the Bayern project should not be undermined. The former Monchengladbach striker, is a master tactician when it comes to coaching and is one of the most decorated German coaches of all time. As evidenced from the transcripts above, his preparation for games is meticulous and is as animated as they come on the touchlines. Nicknamed 'Osram', for the way that his face tends to redden when under pressure or when agitated during a game, Heynckes in 34 years of management has authored many a success story in Germany as well as Spain.

In his first stint with Bayern Munich (1987-1991), he won two back-to-back Bundesliga titles. He moved on to Athletic Bilbao in 1992 and in his second season there led the Basques to a UEFA Cup (erstwhile Europa League) spot by finishing 5th in the league. He returned to Spain with Tenerife in 1995 and led them to a UEFA Cup spot in the very first season. Following his success with Tenerife, Spanish giants Real Madrid came calling in June 1997 and that would be where he would celebrate his greatest triumph till date.

In the 1997-98 season,  he delivered the Champions League trophy to the 'Los Blancos'. That win in Amsterdam, where they beat Juventus by a solitary goal, broke a 32 year barren run without Europe's premier trophy for Real. However, as has come to be with fickle owners, the German's contract was terminated at the end of the season due to Madrid finishing 4th in La Liga, 11 points behind champions Barcelona.

After not so successful short stints at a host of clubs, 'Osram' returned to the Allianz for a third stint (had a brief spell as caretaker manager after Juergen Klinsmann's sacking in April 2009) with the Bavarian club, which has so far been a successful run. A 22nd Bundesliga title has been wrapped up, reclaimed from Dortmund, in record time even; the title has never been won this early ever.

Heynckes' teams are well known for their discipline and commitment to team ethic. They are very well drilled and are very efficient in picking teams apart with ruthless elan. To an extent, the wily German coach has been  a little disappointed at the way Guardiola was appointed to succeed him even before the end of the season and he has expressed his willingness to leave with his head held high having delivered a historic treble to the club.

THE BAVARIAN SUPREMACY
Bayern before the game announced the addition of Dortmund's talented attacking midfielder Mario Goetze to  their ranks from next season, and there are rumors rife that his teammate and prolific striker Robert Lewandowski is poised to join him. Bayern's ambitions stretch far beyond any amount of success that comes their way this term; they are building for domination of the European club scene in years to come.

That spells bad news for Bayern's opponents, as not only are they going up against a very, very talented team with the wherewithal to bully opponents into submission, as Barcelona found out, but also a group of players smarting from the heartbreaks of recent seasons, and an incumbent manager determined to leave with a bar set at  a near stratospheric level for his successor to match.