Inter Milan Vs Bayern Munich [2-2]

The stage was set at San Siro this Wednesday night for two of the biggest names in European football to compete for a spot in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

The home team, Inter Milan, was taking their 2-1 lead that they earned through a late goal at the Allianz Arena last week and now took on the role of favourite in this game.

Simone Inzaghi and his men are in good form, currently leading Serie A and looking to reach another Champions League final after their loss to Manchester City two years ago.

FC Bayern, on the other hand, were seeking revenge, trying to reach the final in their home stadium and therefore had to overcome the deficit they suffered at home last week.

In this situation, it was clear that Vincent Kompany and his team had to take control of the game and try to work their way back into the tie, which was never easy away from home.

In this tactical analysis and post-game analysis, we will examine the key tactics employed by the two managers in this game, as well as two pivotal moments that ultimately altered the game’s outcome.

Inter Milan Vs Bayern Munich Formations & Lineup

Simone Inzaghi is a massive fan of the 3-5-2 formation and had no reason to make significant changes compared to last week.

Yann Sommer started in goal against his former team with a back-three consisting of Benjamin Pavard on the right, Francesco Acerbi in the middle and Alessandro Bastoni on the left-hand side.

Federico Dimarco was the starting left wing-back, with Matteo Darmian being his counterpart on the right.

In midfield, Hakan Çalhanoğlu played as the holding midfielder, with Nicoló Barella at right central midfielder and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at left central midfielder.

Up front, Inzaghi trusted his usual striking partnership in Marcus Thuram and captain Lautaro Martínez.

Vincent Kompany, on the other hand, is a fan of a back-four.

With the injuries to his squad, the Belgian manager had to count on an unusual fullback duo with Josip Stanišić on the left and Konrad Laimer on the right.

Kim Min-Jae and Eric Dier formed the centre of the backline, with Jonas Urbig starting in goal for the injured Manuel Neuer again.

Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka formed the double-pivot in midfield, and club legend Thomas Müller captained this Bayern side today as the attacking midfielder after Jamal Musiala’s injury.

Kingsley Coman and Michael Olise played on the left and right wings, respectively, and English superstar striker Harry Kane played up front in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

FC Bayern Raging Attacks

The game started out exactly how everyone expected it to: Bayern was trying to put Inter under pressure immediately.

Kompany and his men were keen on scoring the needed goal within the first couple of minutes and were able to create a couple of chances, but for most of the first half, Inter was able to defend against their attacks.

Inter only had about 33% of possession during the course of the game, but managed to be very efficient with their time of possession and piched Bayern with their counterattacks multiple times in the first half, but also failed to create a really big opportunity and therefore the goalless draw was a fair result at the halftime whistle.

In the second half, Bayern emerged from the locker room even more aggressively.

In the first half, a significant problem for Bayern was that their crosses were defended relatively easily, and Inter was able to get to the second balls quicker than their own players.

In the second half, Bayern played differently.

They set up in a 3-3 shape around the box, with three players at the edge of the box at all times, trying to get control of the second balls.

In the picture above, this worked perfectly, with Kimmich being able to collect the clearance of the Inter defenders and having options in the box.

With three players in the box, Kompany now tried to occupy the three centre-backs of Inter at all times, forcing them to stay deeper in their own box.

Especially Bastoni is a player who tries to defend forward in a very aggressive way, and he was pushed backwards into his own box this way.

In this situation, Kimmich now plays the ball to Kane, and all the other players are now making runs into the box.

Vincent Kompany tactics had his men attack the backs of the defenders, and with four options in the box, they were able to exploit the gaps between the defenders.

Two players now still stayed on the near side of the box to collect possible second balls again.

In the end, Dimarco defended poorly here and did not close out the distance to Kane, and a world-class striker like the Englishman took that opportunity to get past him and score the lead for Bayern in this game.

With these small changes, Kompany managed to regain control in the final third and push Inter back into their own box, which not only prevented counters but also helped them create chances themselves.

Müller had the big opportunity even to give Bayern the lead in the overall tie, but failed to convert just three minutes after Kane gave them the lead.

Set Piece 1 – Inter Taking Back Control

The thing about Inzaghi’s Inter is that even when things don’t go their way, the team stays level-headed.

After Bayern took the lead on Wednesday, Inter instantly had an answer, but Urbig managed to save a shot by Thuram just seconds after the Kane goal.

After that, Bayern was keen on getting a quick second goal, but that was precisely the moment that Inter Milan took action in this game.

While they were down in this game and things seemed to turn in favour of the German side, the Inter players stayed calm and composed, knowing that their chance would come at some point.

What followed were the three minutes that decided the game and the overall head-to-head in this tie.

In the end, the three goals that were scored from here on out were all goals from set pieces, from corner kicks, to be more exact.

We are now going to take a look at the corner that ended up with Martínez scoring.

Bayern, under Kompany’s style of play, defends their defensive corners the same way each game.

Five players are playing in the space right at the six-yard box, and three players are trying to get to the runners right in front of them.

Inter scouted the Bayern corners well and knew exactly what they wanted to do with their attacking corner in this game.

Inzaghi had his men attack the space between the zonal defenders, using their momentum to gain an advantage over the defenders.

The players shuffled around the spot and evaded the three-man markers there, getting right into the gaps between the other defenders of FC Bayern.

The ball is now placed precisely on the six-yard line at a height just above the heads of the players, allowing the attackers to aggressively attack the ball in the air.

This situation ended with the Inter players clashing with the Bayern defenders in the air, causing a lot of chaos.

With the Inter players in motion and the Bayern defenders struggling with their orientation, the second ball falls to Lautaro Martínez here.

Marínez is quicker with his feet than Kimmich and volleys the ball into the net, equalising the game with ease.

Inter then just put the foot down completely.

Just after this corner, Inter had a massive chance with Darmian, which Dier is barely able to clean off the line, ending up with another corner kick.

Inter used the same principles again, just three minutes after the first goal, and Pavard was able to head the ball into the net, thanks to having more momentum than the stationary man in the six-yard box.

Three minutes, two corners, two goals—Inter took control of the game after conceding quickly again.

Set Piece 2 – Bayern’s Late Surge

These two goals really took Bayern out of the game for about 15 minutes.

Kompany and his men were unable to recover quickly from those two shocks to their system and had to shake it off.

Then, out of nowhere, Olise was presented with the golden opportunity after a cross found him at the far post, but the Frenchman took too long to control the ball, and Sommer was able to save his shot towards the near post.

But at least Bayern ended up with a corner kick.

Inter has a different strategy compared to Bayern while defending these types of set pieces.

Inter also has players covering the space, but only three players in a 2-1 formation are covering off the open space at the near post.

So Bayern decided to overload the far post with four players.

Another Bayern player was threatening the short corner kick, which dragged another defender out of the box.

While Inter tried to prevent the short corner, Serge Gnabry was able to get open at the edge of the box and receive the ball from the corner there.

While Gnabry controlled the ball, all Bayern players were now attacking the six-yard box with well-timed runs, forcing the Inter defenders near their own goal.

Gnabry then crossed the ball towards the far post, where the last Inter defender found himself in a 1v2 situation, forcing him to leave Eric Dier open at the far-sided corner of the six-yard box.

Dier was able to head the ball towards the far post, probably wanting to square the ball here, but found the back of the net over Sommer, whose height is a problem in these situations.

Bayern now found a way back into the game, but it took them until extra time to find more opportunities.

Unfortunately, Inter was able to defend its box as a last stand, and Müller had the last chance of the game after 95 minutes.

However, Sommer was able to save it easily, and Bayern München was knocked out of the UEFA Champions League.

Conclusion

In the end, this game was tightly contested with FC Bayern being slightly better than Inter Milan, but the Germans failed to convert their opportunities into goals.

After a relatively slow first half, two Inter corner kicks changed the game in just about three minutes and therefore shaped the way of the rest of the game.

Kompany’s men were trying to attack as much as they could and even managed to create a bunch of chances for themselves late in the game, but only scored from a corner kick themselves.

For Bayern München, the season now nears its‘ end and missing out on the Champions League final at home is a massive blow to their season.

After a disappointing DFB-Pokal season, winning the Bundesliga will be the deciding factor for their season.

Inter is now entering the most crucial phase of their season.

Inzaghi and his men still hold a slight lead in the Serie A table and have now qualified for the Champions League semi-finals.

For the Nerazzurri, their season could become one of the most successful in recent history, and they will have all the chances with their captain in his current form.