How are they still doing it: Bayern’s path to (another) Bundesliga title

All but one of the top five European leagues have new champions this season. Manchester City overtook Liverpool, Atletico did the same with Real, Lille has beaten PSG and Inter is champion instead of Juventus. Only Bundesliga has the same champion for nine consecutive years – Bayern Munich.

The winning formula for the Bavarians is simple: take the best players from your opponents. And it works perfectly all these years. Even when the opponents are strong enough to challenge Bayern, something usually happens and they give up the chase. For example, Dortmund had the team to chase Bayern properly, but their average coach Lucien Favre was sacked after a series of bad results and it was over for Dortmund this season.

Nothing new in the West - Bundesliga closing day

But let’s get back to the winning formula. In current Bayern squad, key players are keeper Manuer Neuer (bought from Schalke when they were title contenders), Robert Lewandowski (bought from Dortmund as a free agent), Joshua Kimmich (bought from Leipzig), while only Thomas Muller is a home grown player. And when you add other players, it’s easy to see the reason for dominance.

„The big advantage at Bayern is that the squad is built in such a way that there are players there now who could effectively secure Bayern the title in five or six years' time and who also helped win the title for the last nine years. In this respect, Bayern is perfectly positioned for the future and Bundesliga rivals will have to push themselves even further in order to have a different German champion other than Bayern Munich“ said Bayern’s legend Lothar Matthaus.

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Bayern’s mains strength this season came from their attack. Lewandowski alone scored 41 goals, but other players like Muller, Gnabry or Koman provided the goals. Bayern’s attacking and aggressive style provided plenty of chances from which they scored, and coach Flick used his wingers a lot. In 72 per cent of cases, Hansi Flick's men entered the attacking third via one of the wings. Bayern's attacks are much more evenly spread, with a difference of just two per cent, making them even more difficult to fathom. But it’s not just the wingers who provided the chances for Lewa and co. Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich have been particularly helpful figures. With 17 assists, Muller is the league leader in this statistic, with Kimmich fourth on 10.

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And the coach? We are talking about the ex Bayern player, who was a sports shop owner just 18 months ago, when his former club called him to take a place in Niko Kovac’s team as an assistant. From there, he went on to become one of the most successful coaches in teams history, winning six titles in 2020/21 season. Before he took over family sport store, Hansi Flick was  assistant to German National team coach Joachim Low, with whom he won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany. After that, he was a sporting director at the German Football Association (DFB), using the opportunity to be at the training sessions of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal.

Ten league titles in a row for Coman!

As far as tactics is concerned, Flick employed an aggressive pressing game, with the front quartet in a 4-2-3-1 formation pushing high up the pitch to close down the opposing goalkeeper and defenders. The midfielders and Bayern's own defense also squeeze forward, limiting the room and forcing mistakes - which are then immediately pounced upon at speed. Apart from the tactical point, Flick’s biggest assets are a fantastic communication skills with his players, as well as his toughness. The German is an iron fist coach, and the players are respecting that.

Lewandowski stars, Bayern Munich retain the Bundesliga title

What about other opponents? Well, Bayern won them all when it mattered: They won both games against Dortmund (2-3, and 4-2 after trailing 0-2), they didn’t lose against second placed Leipzig (3-3 and 0-1) and they had both wins against fourth placed Wolfsburg (2-1, 2-3).

Are they favorites for the tenth consecutive title? Sure they are, just watch.