FC Bayern managed to impressively turn around a hard-fought and beneficial final friendly before the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. Having trailed 2-1 at the break, the German double winners won 4-2 at 1. FC Heidenheim thanks to a dominant second-half performance. However, the result wasn’t the most important thing for head coach Vincent Kompany as Harry Kane, Dayot Upamecano and Michael Olise made their first appearances since the World Cup.
Clear purpose
The friendly in Heidenheim had clear functions in pre-season: managing workload, integration of the World Cup returnees and a final test before the Supercup in Dortmund. "I know what a friendly is. You don't win any trophies or titles, but you can still win the game,” the coach had said before kick-off, stressing that the 90 minutes against the Bundesliga 2 outfit – who are already two weeks into their league campaign – would help his players to “get back into their rhythm”. Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Tom Bischof were already in this and therefore stayed in Munich, where they completed a thorough training session in the morning.
Those who particularly needed to find rhythm were Upamecano, Kane and Olise, who collected their first friendly minutes of this season. Only Upamecano was included in the starting line-up – and he had to witness aghast how vulnerable Bayern were to Heidenheim’s counter-attacking football in the first half. That’s how the early opening goal came about after a loss of possession in midfield, while the hosts’ second goal just before half-time came after an insufficient clearance in the penalty area. Bayern struggled to find the gaps in the tightly knit Heidenheim defence, and it took a brilliant free kick from young talent Felipe Chávez to breach the home rearguard. Nevertheless, the statistics at the break made for bad reading from a Bavarian point of view: 4-1 shots on goal and 12-5 tackles in favour of the aggressive hosts, despite Bayern having 76 percent possession.
Raining substitutes
It wasn’t until the second half, in pouring rain and with a possibly record-breaking seven substitutions in the 60th minute, that Bayern unleashed their full potential for domination in front of the crowd of nearly 12,000. With better positioning and a clearer grip, Kompany’s men cut off all Heidenheim’s attempts on goal – and it was reflected in the statistics, with six shots on goal to zero and 26 touches in the opposition penalty area to two. Like the weather, Heidenheim’s luck also suddenly turned: the lively Tim Binder dribbled through the home defence in the first move after the restart and the 18-year-old could only be stopped by a foul. Arijon Ibrahimović, who was on loan at Heidenheim last season, confidently converted the spot-kick against his former club to level the score at 2-2.
Bayern come from behind to beat Heidenheim
Heidenheim increasingly retreated as Bayern pressed down on the hosts’ goal – at times with every outfield player in the opposition half. Then Kompany brought on a load of attacking power from his bench: Kane, Olise, Luis Díaz, Jamal Musiala, Jonathan Tah, Josip Stanišić and Aleksandar Pavlović came onto the field, “determined to turn the match around”, as sporting director Christoph Freund had promised at half-time.
Whetting the appetite for Franz Beckenbauer Supercup
The result: forceful dominance as well as the deserved goals to make it 3-2 by Díaz, set up by Olise, and 4-2 by Nathaniel Brown, who took out a whole handful of home defenders. Kane also had a big chance to get his name on the scoresheet, which he missed. Nevertheless, the second half whetted the appetite for the showdown with rivals Dortmund in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup on Saturday.
This was also the view of Max Eberl. “It was a game in which we were able to get further into our rhythm,” said the board member for sport. “Every minute helps. The game was worthwhile for us; the young players could learn, the senior players could get minutes. We’ve had a good pre-season, we’ve put in good performances and got good results. We’ve done a lot of things well but also realised that we still need to work on our physicality and get fitter.”
The interview with goalkeeper Jonas Urbig from member’s magazine ‘51’: