The pick of the games in this weeks Bundesliga took place at the BayArena on Saturday as league leaders Bayern Munich took on Bayer Leverkusen, with the visitors looking to maintain their title push while Leverkusen looked to maintain their push for UEFA Champions League qualification, with the teams around them such as RB Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach both dropping points. With both sides usually adopting similar styles of play, it was an interesting stylistic match up on paper, with it appearing as though Bayern would look to control the game with their possession while Leverkusen would look to use their threat in transition. In reality, the game wasnt much different, with Bayern dominating the game for large periods despite Leverkusen taking an early lead, and Leverkusen failed to control Bayern once they got into their usual flowing attacking rhythm. In this tactical analysis, I will look at the tactics Bayern used to take control of the game and begin to pick apart Leverkusen gradually over the game, while also covering both sides pressing structures and Leverkusens troublesome defensive line.
Lineups
Bayern Munich lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1, with Thomas Müller operating in that freer role just behind Robert Lewandowski, while Bayerns double pivot consisted of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, with Thiago still seemingly struggling for full fitness. The biggest team news, however, was Kai Havertzs absence from the Bayer Leverkusen side, with a muscle injury ruling him out of the game. Leverkusen started with a wealth of attacking options, with Leon Bailey and Nadiem Amiri starting as wing-backs, while the familiar back three of Sven Bender, Edmond Tapsoba and Aleksandr Dragović all started. Leverkusen started in a 3-4-3 but at half time switched to a 4-2-3-1, for reasons I will discuss within my analysis.
Leverkusens successful early pressing
Leverkusens initial pressing in the 3-4-3 was largely effective, with Leverkusen using traps at times as well as good positioning in order to disrupt Bayern and prevent them from having long possession phases. Their pressing scheme looked like this structure seen below, with the front three pressing the back line. The striker would ideally press the central defender on the ball, while the ball near winger would either drop to cover both the half-space lane and the full-back, or would engage slightly higher to cut the passing lane to the full-back. The central midfielders were marked by Leverkusens central midfielders in a 2v2, while the back line stayed high and tight to their players, with the wing-backs available to jump to press the Bayern full-back when needed.
We can see an example of this pressing struc
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