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Die Rotten effectively ended what was billed as the season’s weightiest game as a contest by halftime. Here’s how the Cameroon international contributed to Die Bayern's Der Klassiker success.
Much was made about this particular Bayern Munich meeting with Borussia Dortmund.
Apart from the fact that this season has thrown up a Bundesliga title race involving both teams was also the managerial change at FC Hollywood. Thomas Tuchel, head coach at BVB from 2015 to 2017, was now in situ at the Allianz Arena, making his bow against his former club a week after replacing Julian Nagelsmann.
Dortmund went into the game as the form team in Germany and possibly Europe, securing nine wins from 10 in an unbeaten start to 2023. As for Bayern, they had dropped more points since the turn of the year than they did in the Bundesliga’s opening 15 games, a downturn that precipitated Nagelsmann’s dismissal.
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Indeed, this felt like Die Borussen’s best opportunity to end a nine-game winless run in all competitions against their dominant rivals and stop a disadvantaged sequence at the Allianz Arena in this fixture that last resulted in an away win in April 2014.
In the end, the outcome felt anticlimactic. Bayern defeated Dortmund again. The final score was 4-2, but the game was effectively over at the break, with Tuchel’s team racing into a 3-0 lead in the opening half-hour before adding another five minutes after halftime.
Tuchel-centric conversations preceding the game predicted a switch to a back three and prognostications over the roles of Joao Cancelo, Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane.
There was also the expectation of a start for Sadio Mane instead of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting owing to the Cameroon international’s troubled back that kept the striker out of Bayern’s two league games before the break.
As it turned out, the former Chelsea boss did not opt for a back three but instead used a four-player defence. Even though Bayern utilised a 4-2-3-1, their shape understandably altered during different phases of play.
In the build-up, they morphed into a 2-3-5, with Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano at the base, while full-backs Alphonso Davies and Benjamin Pavard inverted either side of Joshua Kimmich.
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Leon Goretzka pushed forward into the half-space to form a front five of Sane and Coman — both operating high and wide on the touchline — with Thomas Muller and Goretzka flanking Choupo-Moting.
The Cameroonian neither scored nor assisted before going off for Mane with the home side 4-0 up but two elements in his game showed Bayern’s intent: his smart pressing without possession and varied movement when FCB had the ball.
Barely two minutes into Saturday’s game, the former Paris Saint-Germain forward dropped between the lines to pick up a pass from Pavard to link up play…
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…and was running onto De Ligt’s ball over the top seconds later.
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While he could not beat Niklas Sule to the Dutchman’s pass in behind the Dortmund defence, it was the start of the home side’s readiness to try those passes, looking to punish the BVB’s high defensive line.
Gregor Kobel’s error was telling for Bayern’s opening goal, but it came from one of such passes — albeit from an overhit Upamecano pass for Sane — Die Bayern opened the scoring.
Several other instances throughout the first half showed Choupo-Moting receiving possession between the lines…
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…or try to beat Die Borussen’s high line.
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Without the ball, the 34-year-old’s effort was recognisable and indirectly contributed to Bayern’s second.
That came from a set piece, diverted home by Muller after De Ligt’s header, but a look at the events preceding the corner highlights the striker’s influence in what ensued.
The striker reads Emre Can’s intent to play the ball back to Kobel as Dortmund are trying to play out from the back.
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Under pressure from Choupo-Moting, the goalkeeper plays the obvious pass to Nico Schlotterbeck...
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...who is forced to play the ball long under pressure from the centre-forward.
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Bayern won the aerial duel in the middle of the park and regained possession, nearly scoring from the resulting attacking transition, much to Tuchel’s pleasure. From the corner, the goal came.
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The 34-year-old had been smart with his work without possession before that moment, on one occasion shuffling across to block Marius Wolf’s recognisable pass to Sule, thus forcing the right-back into traffic.
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In another situation, Choupo-Moting forces Kobel to play a riskier pass to Wolf and not the easier one to Sule, who is pointing in the screen grab below, due to the Cameroon international’s commitment out of possession.
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The striker missed his chance to get in on the act when he was denied by Kobel after 63 minutes, a miss that probably prevented Saturday’s performance from being viewed differently.
Mane’s introduction added pace to the home side in central areas, but the damage had been done before the Senegal superstar was brought on with 20 minutes remaining.
While Kimmich, Goretzka and Muller got the plaudits, Choupo-Moting’s role in the win that saw Bayern supplant their rivals in the table was undoubtedly commendable.
At 34, the striker was willing to do the thankless tasks with very little fuss. He has been one of Die Bayern’s dependable performers in a weird season in Bavaria, and the initial performance under Tuchel bodes well for the unsung hero.
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