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Bayern Munich smashed Mainz 05 to the tune of 6-2 with Sven Ulreich again standing in for the injured Manuel Neuer in goal. It was another largely solid performance, sans a few hiccups, which he addressed after the game for Sky (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Starting with a controversial penalty call near the end of the first half — Ulreich came out and batted a looping corner away from Mainz’s Jonathan Burkardt at the far post, but clattered into him on his way down.
“The referee just said that I didn’t touch the ball,” Ulreich explained, though replays suggest otherwise. “I said I felt the ball contact on my glove. I also said I didn’t hit the player. I didn’t see him at all, I was in the air. It’s inexplicable to me how you can give a penalty for that.
“The goalkeeper is not allowed to come out, not allowed to have physical contact and is not even allowed to stand a centimeter in front of the line when a penalty is taken. At some point we have to be careful of any rules where the goalkeeper isn’t allowed to do anything.”
Ulreich would save Burkardt’s ensuing penalty, only for the corner following that to wind up in the back of the net. It was a spectacular save, though!
“We noticed when analyzing the opponent that Burkardt often shoots in the middle, so I said why not just stand still,” Ulreich explained afterward. “It’s a pity we weren’t focused in the following corner.”
Things went fairly smoothly for the stand-in keeper until late in the game, when, with Noussair Mazraoui open as an uncontested outlet to his right, he inexplicably tried to thread the ball between two defenders to Dayot Upamecano in the center.
“I didn’t want to go for the easy solution and clear the ball,” Ulreich explained. “I chose the difficult ball because I enjoy combining well with my teammates. Of course it’s stupid to concede a goal, but at 5-1 you try different things than at 2-1.”
That’s certainly true: at least it was 5-1!
Interested in more analysis of the game? We talk about the tactical changes Julian Nagelsmann has made to make Bayern Munich so much more threatening in our postgame podcast. Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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