The 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim at the Allianz Arena didn’t exactly work wonders on Bayern Munich’s confidence ahead of the second leg of the Champions League quarter finals against Manchester City. They’re already down 3-0 on aggregate to Pep Guardiola’s side, as the reigning Premier League champions put forth an immaculate performance at the Etihad, making Bayern rue all of their missed chances.
It’s was another slip-up in the infancy of Thomas Tuchel’s managerial tenure at Bayern, failing to close up a win and clean sheet against Hoffenheim, though Andrej Kramaric did admit he sold the foul that led to his equalizing free kick to the ref just a bit. Regardless of how Hoffenheim got their equalizer, it was another setback for Bayern and they simply weren’t good enough on the afternoon, despite registering 8 shots on target. Their finishing was sub-par and there’s zero excuses for why they were only able to score on Oliver Baumann just once.
After the draw, Joshua Kimmich spoke about how he knows it’s going to take something extra special for Bayern to overcome the 3-0 deficit against Manchester City, especially with the evidence of their past two performances. “It’s completely separate from today (Hoffenhein draw). Against Man City, everyone knows that we need a completely different performance. We all know we can do that, but we have to show it on the pitch every 3 days, not every 2 weeks,” he told Sky Germany (via @iMiaSanMia).
Even in the first leg against City, Bayern did have their chances, and had it not been for a Dayot Upamecano mistake, the deficit might have only been 2-0 instead of 3-0. By that same token, City could’ve also scored 4 or 5 goals, but Kimmich still saw some positives from the first leg that Bayern can take into leg 2 at the Allianz Arena. “The performance last Tuesday, at least the first 70 minutes (can give Bayern hope). We had chances, we played very well and controlled the game. Of course, this time it won’t be enough to control it. Fortunately, the game on Wednesday won’t be just 70 minutes,” he enthused.