Tag: Bayern Munich

Malik Tillman is still very undecided on his club future

Rangers or Bayern? The USMNT midfielder needs some time to figure it out

Amid his breakout campaign at Rangers, Malik Tillman has said he needs some time to sort out where he’s playing next season.

The U.S. national team midfielder has scored 10 league goals on loan from Bayern Munich this term, becoming one of the top attacking midfielders in the Scottish Premiership during his first full season of senior-team soccer.

Rangers head coach Michael Beale has consistently stated he’d like to sign the 20-year-old on a permanent basis at the end of the season, with Rangers holding a reported £5 million purchase option.

But Bayern also reportedly holds a buy-back clause that it could trigger immediately after Rangers use their own purchase option.

That has left Tillman’s future very much in the air. Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Saturday’s Old Firm derby against Celtic, the USMNT midfielder said he’d need to chat with both of his prospective managers before making a decision.

“I think I have to listen to both managers, the Rangers one and the Bayern one, and see what they say and where they see me and see what the plan is for the future and then I can decide,” Tillman said.

Tillman’s teammate Todd Cantwell expressed his desire to see the U.S. international at Ibrox for the long term.

“As a Rangers player but also as Rangers fans he’s the sort of player you want to keep here. He’s only going to get better as he gets older which is pretty scary actually,” Cantwell said.

“We want him here. He’s a fantastic footballer and I think he’s pretty aware of how much he is loved here.”

[lawrence-related id=16673,17041,17014]

Bayern showed up for Der Klassiker. Dortmund, not so much.

Dortmund’s wheels fell off after an unfathomable error from Gregor Kobel

Saturday’s Der Klassiker was supposed to be a truly big match. Borussia Dortmund has been giving Bayern Munich — who have won the last 10 Bundesliga titles — their first real race for first in years, and kicked today’s game off with a one-point lead atop the table.

Unfortunately for Dortmund, that was not even remotely reflected in an absolute nightmare of a game for them. Their former coach Thomas Tuchel’s new club capitalized on an astounding early error from from Gregor Kobel, going up 3-0 by the 23rd minute. The 4-2 final scoreline in Bayern’s favor flattered Dortmund in the end.

At home and under their own sort of pressure — very few teams would have fired Julian Nagelsmann while in a title race and having a perfect record in the Champions League — Bayern were in charge, but it still took one of the strangest errors the Bundesliga has seen in years to hand them a lead.

Dayot Upamecano, 11 yards inside his own half, saw a run from Leroy Sané in behind, and decided to try to play him behind. Sadly, the ball was overhit, skipping by Sané before the winger could get a touch. It happens, we know how this goes: ball rolls on, goalkeeper collects inside the box.

Kobel, apparently not being able to see that Sané was a good five yards from getting a touch, opted instead to charge out of his box and take an awkward swing at a clearance. That’s a bad choice, but it gets even worse when you see that his attempt to kick the ball included completely missing it.

Upamecano, therefore, got himself a goal from around 70 yards, while Kobel looked completely crestfallen at his involvement one of the strangest goals anywhere in the world.

From there, Dortmund completely unraveled. Thomas Müller struck for a five-minute brace, first touching Matthijs de Ligt’s header from a corner past Kobel in the 18th minute, and then tapping in a rebound after Kobel spilled Sané’s powerful shot from distance.

The halftime break didn’t fix much for Dortmund. In the 50th minute, Sané slashed inside against a hesitant defense before slipping a pass through several players that found Kingsley Coman for an emphatic finish.

Dortmund finally showed up for the game sometime around the hour mark, and the final score on the day will possibly obscure just how shambolic they were in the first 60 minutes. Emre Can buried a 72nd minute penalty, and Donyell Malen’s 90th minute goal made the loss look a little more like a normal road loss rather than a disaster.

The win takes Bayern two points ahead of Dortmund in the table, but the psychological side of things may end up making this a decisive result for both teams.

[lawrence-related id=16563,16165,15279]

Gio Reyna will miss massive Bayern Munich clash with illness

The attacker misses out after starting both games for the USMNT over the international break

The Bundesliga title race may well come down to Saturday’s massive game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

But unfortunately for Gio Reyna, he won’t be able to play a part.

At his pre-match press conference on Friday, Dortmund manager Edin Terzić confirmed the American was sick and would miss Der Klassiker at Allianz Arena.

“Unfortunately, Gio Reyna and Thomas Meunier will be out. Gio has a cold and has been lying flat since yesterday. Thomas Meunier complains of back problems and had to stop training yesterday,” Terzić said.

There was some positive injury news for Dortmund as well, with Terzić confirming Gregor Kobel and Julian Brandt will be fit for the game, while Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko will be game-time decisions.

The already-huge game became even more intriguing when Bayern surprisingly sacked Julian Nagelsmann over the international break and replaced him with ex-Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel.

Terzić admitted the move left him and his staff scrambling somewhat, saying that it “obviously changed our preparation a little bit” for the game.

“We don’t know how much Thomas Tuchel will continue on with what Julian Nagelsmann did in the last few weeks, or whether he brings in completely new ideas,” Terzić added.

“But what hasn’t changed is that they still have a top manager on the bench and a top team on the field.”

Dortmund enters the match in first place, just one point ahead of Bayern in second.

[lawrence-related id=15423,16250,15988]

Bayern Munich chose chaos

Bayern don’t fit the profile of a club that would make a rash decision like this late in the season

Bayern Munich is having a pretty typical Bayern Munich season.

Yes, they are not leading the Bundesliga, but trail Borussia Dortmund by just a point and would overtake them with a win in Der Klassiker on April 1. Their +45 goal differential is nearly double the next best team, suggesting they have, despite their position in the table, been the best team in the Bundesliga this season.

Bayern have won eight of eight Champions League games to reach the quarterfinal, and are also in the last eight of the German cup. Pretty normal stuff from Germany’s only real power over the last decade.

None of that, however, stopped the Bavarians from sacking head coach Julian Nagelsmann on Friday, and replacing him with Thomas Tuchel.

Why? According to CEO Oliver Kahn, Bayern have dipped since the World Cup.

“After the World Cup we have played less successfully and less attractively,” Kahn said in a club announcement. “The big fluctuations in performance have cast doubt on our goals for this season, but also our goals for the future. That is why we have acted now.”

There were reportedly other reasons that Bayern didn’t spell out in their announcement.

The Athletic added: “Nagelsmann didn’t so much lose the dressing room as never really connect with it in the first place.”

Still, making a change at this juncture of a season that is still well on track has to qualify as a risk — but perhaps less so when Bayern had Tuchel available.

The Athletic said Tuchel told Bayern he would not wait until the offseason to take the job. Having lost out on Tuchel in 2018, when he chose PSG instead, Bayern were not prepared to let history repeat itself.

Nagelsmann, still just 35, will land on his feet after a mostly-successful stint that nearly lasted two seasons. But the manner of his exit will sting. Bayern may feel it was necessary, but the squad will have to respond to Tuchel quickly in order for the decision not to feel like a knee-jerk one.

[lawrence-related id=15279,7186]

Champions League draw: Real Madrid, Chelsea paired up in quarterfinals

Some enticing pairings are in place for the last-eight

UEFA has conducted the draw for the rest of the 2022-23 Champions League, charting a course from the quarterfinals onward.

The last two tournament winners, Real Madrid and Chelsea, were paired in one quarterfinal, while Manchester City and Bayern Munich were put together for another titanic clash. An all-Serie A battle between Napoli and AC Milan also came out of the pot, while Benfica will face Inter in the round’s final match-up.

The Champions League will play out over the next three months, with the quarterfinals set for mid-April. The semifinals will take place in mid-May, while the Champions League final is scheduled for June 10 in Turkey.

Here are the quarterfinal pairings:

Bayern condemn PSG to yet another Champions League disappointment

PSG once again came up short in the Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League agonies will last for at least another year.

PSG’s wait for European glory carried on Wednesday as they crashed out of the Champions League in the round of 16 after a 3-0 aggregate loss to a disciplined, clinical Bayern Munich.

At the Allianz Arena, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s second half goal condemned a short-handed PSG to more Champions League disappointment, with the Ligue 1 juggernaut once again not able to translate domestic dominance at a continental level. Serge Gnabry tacked on a late goal to ensure celebrations in Bavaria.

Bayern’s game-winning goals in the two legs both came from ex-PSG players, with Choupo-Moting having left them for Bayern in 2020 and first-leg scorer Kingsley Coman a PSG academy product.

It’s been like this for a long, long time. PSG’s lone European trophy remains the 1995-96 Cup Winners’ Cup, which is a competition that stopped existing before the turn of the century. They have had some close calls, losing the 2019-20 final (again to Bayern), but today’s defeat comes at a familiar stage. This is the fifth time in the last seven seasons they’ve been eliminated at the first knockout hurdle.

That will likely result in some real pressure for manager Christophe Galtier, though injuries to Neymar (which likely influenced a formation change), Presnel Kimpembe, and Renato Sanches were further compounded by multiple enforced substitutions on Wednesday.

Despite those issues, PSG competed on equal terms for a long spell of the first half in a second leg they had to win. However, once the golden opportunity to equalize arrived, they weren’t ready.

Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer, having received a back-pass, was pressured by Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi, with the latter jarring the ball loose with a tackle. Sommer attempted a lunging tackle of his own on Vitinha, who calmly dodged that effort and sized up an empty net.

Surely the moment for PSG, right?

Wrong. Matthijs de Ligt sprinted onto the scene seemingly from nowhere, arriving just in time to slice Vitinha’s rolling shot off the line. Leo Messi had his head in his hands, Marco Verratti literally fell down upon seeing the shot not actually give them a lead, and PSG were stuck at 0-0.

In retrospect, it was a moment that changed the match. PSG’s Champions League misfortunes only grew: Marquinhos had been substituted due to a possible hip injury just two minutes before de Ligt’s denial, compounding PSG’s availability problems.

It only got worse, though, as his replacement Nordi Mukiele was then replaced at halftime by El Chadaille Bitshiabu.

Bayern sensed a foe that lacked the confidence befitting a side that can start Mbappé and Messi together, and pounced as the second half wore on. Choupo-Moting thought he had his goal in the 51st minute, but VAR ended up pulling it back after Thomas Müller was judged to be offside and involved in the play as he reached out for what turned out to be an unnecessary stab at a finish.

This should have been the wake-up call for PSG, but they never really got going again. Choupo-Moting would strike again shortly thereafter, and this time PSG wasn’t saved by VAR. Müller and Leon Goretzka pressured Verratti into a turnover, with Goretzka drawing the defense before sliding a pass over to the Cameroon striker for a simple finish.

For Choupo-Moting it marked his team-leading 17th of the season; for PSG, it was effectively game over. The Parisians only truly came close to making a game of it through Sergio Ramos’ 64th minute header, only for Sommer to come up with a top-drawer save. Such is life when you’re PSG in the Champions League.

Serge Gnabry would finish the game off late, firing home after João Cancelo’s 70-yard run left a scrambling PSG defense with little hope of intervention.

Bayern will join Chelsea, AC Milan, Benfica, and four more teams in the quarterfinal draw, while PSG’s herd of superstars will be left pondering what it will take to actually advance in this competition.

[lawrence-related id=14956,14767,14107]

Neymar joins ever-expanding list of PSG absentees for Bayern clash

Neymar is one of a possible five absentees for a must-win match

Paris Saint-Germain’s quest to finally win a Champions League just keeps getting more difficult.

Speaking ahead of his side’s home match against Nantes, PSG boss Christophe Gaultier has confirmed that Neymar will be out for both this weekend’s game as well as Wednesday’s second leg at Bayern Munich.

“Neymar will not be available in the next two games,” Galtier told reporters on Friday. “Without him, we may play with two [central] midfielders and three attackers, or three midfielders and two attackers.”

Back on February 19, Neymar appeared to roll his ankle in PSG’s wild 4-3 comeback win over Lille, leaving the game early in the second half on a stretcher. The following weekend, PSG adjusted to his absence in a 3-0 win at Marseille by bringing Marquinhos in at the back, shifting into a 3-5-2 formation.

Against Lille, Galtier sent Hugo Ekitiké in as Neymar’s replacement, but the 20-year-old is a very different sort of player. That wasn’t the only injury-enforced change for PSG on the day, as Nuno Mendes left the match after just 31 minutes. The Portuguese left back’s status for PSG’s upcoming games is uncertain.

PSG badly shorthanded vs. Bayern

While the win over Marseille was potentially decisive in Ligue 1 — PSG moved eight points ahead of l’OM, their closest competition for the league title at the moment — it came with yet another serious injury. Presnel Kimpembe suffered a torn Achilles tendon, adding to a growing list of injury doubts as PSG faces its biggest challenge of the season at the Allianz Arena.

In his press conference, Galtier noted that wingback Achraf Hakimi — who is being investigated for rape by French authorities — is questionable due to “muscle pain” that the coach says stems from an injury picked up during the World Cup.

Renato Sanches, meanwhile, seems sure to remain out after suffering a reoccurrence of a hamstring strain last month.

It’s not a great recipe for a PSG side that were outplayed in Paris by Bayern, falling 1-0 on a goal from Kingsley Coman. At full strength, they would have an enormously difficult task on their hands: no one has beaten Bayern at home since Eintracht Frankfurt notched a 2-1 victory back on October 3, 2021.

But without Neymar and so many other important players? It’s hard to see PSG managing to advance to the quarterfinals, leaving their pursuit of Champions League glory on hold for at least another year.

[lawrence-related id=14750,14280,14107]

Sergio Ramos got mad and shoved a photographer

The defender was not happy after PSG’s loss to Bayern Munich

Sergio Ramos was not happy after PSG’s defeat to Bayern Munich, and he took out some of his frustration on an unsuspecting photographer.

PSG fell 1-0 to Bayern on Tuesday night in the Champions League last-16 first leg, as Kingsley Coman’s goal settled the match at Parc des Princes.

The result leaves PSG needing to win at the Allianz Arena on March 8 or suffer yet another major disappointment in European competition.

Following the disappointing performance, PSG’s players went to their home fans to thank them for their support. Amid a crowd of photographers looking to get up close and personal with some of his teammates, Ramos was visibly annoyed.

After telling off one photographer, the defender was brushed against by a second. That clearly set him off, as he gave the photographer a hard, two-handed shove that sent him stumbling backwards before regaining his balance.

PSG has now lost three matches in a row in all competitions.

[lawrence-related id=14107,13387,14092]

Slumping PSG on the verge of another Champions League disappointment

PSG is looking at yet another early Champions League exit

What if Paris Saint-Germain added a fourth player who at some point was in the argument for the world’s best player? Would that work?

Something has to give for PSG, whose Champions League disappointments may well continue after they fell to a 1-0 home loss to Bayern Munich in their round of 16 first leg match on Tuesday.

Despite their many superstars, PSG have suddenly lost more games in the last six days than they had all season.

The latest defeat almost felt expected. With Kylian Mbappé only able to play 33 minutes off the bench, PSG looked flat from kickoff and seemed to be hoping to simply get through this first leg with a chance to take the tie with a second-leg win. They may have been lucky that Bayern decided to approach the match with patience rather than firing on all cylinders.

In the end, Kingsley Coman’s 53rd minute goal sneaked past Gianluigi Donnarumma, leaving PSG — even with Mbappé, Leo Messi, and Neymar all in the fold — staring at the massive disappointment of an early Champions League exit.

PSG has now lost three straight matches, falling 2-1 at Marseille in the Coupe de France on February 8, and then being beaten at Monaco 3-1 in Ligue 1 three days later. That hasn’t happened since 2020, when they fell in the final game of the 2019-2020 season and then lost their first two matches after the abbreviated break between seasons.

If they can’t figure out how to win at the Allianz Arena on March 8, it’ll be the latest European disappointment for a team built to, you know, win the Champions League.

Round of 16 exit not acceptable

Mbappé, Messi, and Neymar are joined by Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, Fabián, Marco Verratti, and one of Europe’s great young prospects in Warren Zaïre-Emery in the kind of squad assembled when you expect to win everything. Another failure may result in Christophe Galtier becoming the latest high-profile manager to fall short at PSG, where winning Ligue 1 is considered a matter of course at this point.

The fact is, though, that PSG has a long history of not making it happen on the European stage. Their only trophy in UEFA competition remains the 1995-1996 Cup Winners’ Cup, a competition so old that it is literally defunct. The only other European adventure that went well for them was the 2001 Intertoto Cup, a competition that was really little more than an expanded qualification process for the old UEFA Cup.

Last year, PSG saw a 2-0 aggregate lead disappear at this same stage, with Karim Benzema scoring a hat trick in the final 30 minutes to send Real Madrid through instead. In 2020-21, PSG got as far as the semifinals, but were brushed aside by Manchester City. A year earlier, this same result — 1-0 against Bayern, with Coman scoring in the final of the pandemic-shortened version of that year’s Champions League (which was the first game in the aforementioned previous three-game losing streak for the club).

Mbappé’s second-half return from injury will probably mean a quick reversal in their overall form. Without the France star, they scraped out a 2-1 win over Toulouse before beginning this three-game losing streak. And sure enough, even looking less than 100%, the PSG attack suddenly found more space due to the threat of Mbappé’s runs in behind.

Still, while Mbappé’s return will most likely change PSG’s poor form in French play, it seems like it’ll take more than that to end whatever the hex is that hangs over them once the opening chords of the Champions League theme starts to ring out on matchday.

[lawrence-related id=13387,12093,14092]

Canada got some pretty good news on Alphonso Davies’ injury

Canada’s worst fears have been averted

Bayern Munich has offered a positive injury update on Alphonso Davies, saying the Canada star is not in danger of missing the World Cup despite suffering a hamstring strain.

Davies limped out of Bayern’s 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday, holding the back of his right leg in what appeared to be a nightmare scenario for Canada just two weeks ahead of the World Cup.

But a day later, Bayern issued an update on the 22-year-old star that eliminated fears of a worst-case outcome.

“FC Bayern will be without Alphonso Davies for the two remaining Bundesliga games prior to the winter break,” a club statement said.

“The 22-year-old fullback suffered a hamstring strain in the 3-2 win at Hertha BSC on Saturday. The diagnosis was confirmed by the German record champions’ medical unit. The Canada international’s participation in the World Cup in Qatar is not at risk.”

Though Davies will be available for Canada’s first men’s World Cup since 1986, it is decidedly not ideal for one of the country’s most vital players to be working his way back to fitness as such a late stage.

Davies has 34 caps and has scored 12 goals for Canada.

Crépeau broken leg confirmed

In less positive injury news, Canada Soccer confirmed that goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau suffered a broken leg in MLS Cup and will miss the World Cup.

The LAFC goalkeeper very clearly suffered a serious injury when he came off his line in extra time, colliding violently with Philadelphia Union forward Cory Burke.

As Fox opted not to show the replay, Crépeau was shown a red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity before he was stretchered off.

Crépeau has been capped 15 times by Canada, and was set to serve as backup to Milan Borjan at the World Cup. In his absence, Minnesota United’s Dayne St. Clair looks set to take over as Canada’s backup.

[lawrence-related id=9305,9282]