Match Awards from Bayern Munich’s nightmare 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen

Bayern Munich travelled to Bayer Leverkusen — an early trial against their DFB-Pokal opponents whom they will face in ten days. The situation in Munich has been rather tense despite recent wins with an injury list that could qualify the Bavarians to run a hospital.

The tension built up culminated in Bayern’s worst game of the season against Leverkusen. With two goals ruled out by handball and two players dismissed, the two goal game ended after ten minutes of added-time. The goal from Luis Diaz gives Bayern a point, placing them nine points clear of Borussia Dortmund.

Here are the standout performers from tonight’s nightmare of a game.

Jersey Swap — Upper Limbs The refereeing Aleix Garcia

The story behind this game begins 375 million years ago — the Late Devonian period.

Fossils discovered in Canada in 2004 show the existence of fish such as the Tiktaalik (375 million years ago) with fins that had wrist-like bones. The Tiktaalik could prop itself up in shallow waters using these fins. The modern forelimb/upper limbs evolved from the pectoral fins of the fish.

Then, 365 million years ago, the formation of early tetrapods showed digits. Devonian tetrapods basically initiated the formation of the mammalian upper and lower limbs, which have refined forelimb mobility. Further down the evolutionary conveyor belt, hominins developed only 6 million years ago. The tribe hominins consist of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos and they became capable of using tools with their hands.

The story of the upper limb is hence a story that is nearly 375 million years old, and the point I am trying to make with this story is, I blame the fish and the tetrapods for Bayern’s scoreline.

If it was fair to give the jersey swap to human parts, I would certainly give it to the upper limbs. It is simply unbelievable that Bayern could have TWO goals ruled out in the same game because of handballs. Interestingly yet, both handballs were off the elbow joint — and the primitive form of the elbow was noted first in the Tiktaalik.

If it was even more fair to give it to the refereeing, I could. Sending off two players and further making them play an additional EIGHT minutes after full-time is inhumane. But I could not do so — two last-minute goals were disallowed by VAR for offside.

But seriously, Aleix Garcia deserves the Jersey Swap, simply for the goal he scored. He beat Diaz, Pavlovic, Kimmich and Tah on the goal. He was standout throughout the game too — a solid presence in their midfield and had a strong grip on the game’s tempo.

Der Kaiser — Josip Stanišić

This game was a defensive nightmare in every angle. Jonathan Tah’s homecoming has become forgettable and with multiple incidents wherein he was the last man and isolated. Dayot Upamecano’s speed was perhaps his only saving grace and that too, not always. In this mix, it was Josip Stanišić who had the most to provide. There is nothing particularly extraordinary about his performance from tonight, he was simply the best of a mediocre lot.

Stanisic had to constantly clean up the messes left behind by attack — for no one was in form. He won a solid few duels against Poku and Tillman, and had a strong passing game with an accuracy of close to 90%.

There is not much else to speak on any defender’s performance — Stanisic takes the award for his composure tonight.

Der Fussballgott — Joshua Kimmich

Giving Kimmich this award was difficult — he and Aleksander Pavlović had a near-similar performance. Where Kimmich edges is the way he organized the team during the difficult circumstances they were in. His leadership and maintaining the passing distribution under such immense pressure are commendable. His role was mostly defensive and holding the team down.

Perhaps, this was the most crucial reason why Bayern could take a point home tonight. However, his performance was not enough to warrant an MOTM.

Der Bomber — Harry Kane

Unfortunately, the award cannot go to Luis Díaz — a player who may have scored the lone goal, but managed to also let Garcia score and get sent off. Michael Olise was a strong contender, but Harry Kane takes Der Bomber.

Kane’s substitution for Lennart Karl was predictable — the latter had done very little despite having 60 minutes on the pitch. Immediate impact is the name of the Kane game — the star got in what seemed like the first goal. However, it was disallowed due to a handball. Of course, later when Luis Díaz scored the goal assisted by Michael Olise, Kane was involved in the buildup.

Bayern were shorthanded and Kane came armed with firepower. Though it wasn’t handled appropriately and Bayern did continue to flail around like fish out of water, his half-hour cameo made Bayern dangerous enough to threaten Leverkusen.

(I am truly sorry about all the arm references.)

Meister of the Match — Sven Ulreich

Ulreich’s story has been nothing short of difficult. The goalkeeper has always been second in line to Manuel Neuer, but went further down to third after Jonas Urbig’s entry. Last year, Ulreich lost his 7-year-old son to a serious, long-term illness. In this circumstance, anyone else would have decided to retire. Losing a loved one, and one’s son on top of that is not easy. Yet, the goalkeeper continues to display extraordinary strength.

He made SIX saves — all of which were crucial given the circumstances. Bayern were always moments away from losing the game and yet a man who hadn’t played in two years had more impact than the ones playing week in and week out.

He’s no Manuel Neuer, hell, he’s no Jonas Urbig. But Vincent Kompany made the right decision in playing Ulreich over the youngsters. The manager’s decisions may not always be perfect, but this one was.

In this game, there were really no bright spots barring Ulreich. The odd few performances that held the team together were like the dim incandescent lights in an old tavern on its last legs.

It is rather unfortunate how little I have to speak of the team itself. It is becoming hard to tell if this Bayern team is struggling against tough teams, or if it’s the squad depth and scheduling that is keeping the team from doing their best. It remains to be seen how we come back from this and hopefully do better in the Pokal.

What do you think about the awards? Who else do you think deserved a shout? Let us know in the comments!

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