MY ACCOUNT
Julian Nagelsmann knows this season cannot be considered a success for Bayern Munich after falling short of their “minimum goal” of making the Champions League semi-finals.
Bayern are on course for a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title, nine points clear of nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund with five games to play.
But as last season, Bayern have failed to win the DFB-Pokal and been eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
After being edged out by big-spending Paris Saint-Germain in 2020-21, underdogs Villarreal put paid to their European hopes this time, claiming a 1-1 draw in Germany on Tuesday to claim a 2-1 aggregate success.
Samuel Chukwueze’s late equaliser saw Bayern eliminated in the last eight for the eighth time in the Champions League era – more than any other side.
It was the first time Bayern had failed to win consecutive matches at any stage of the competition since facing Liverpool in the last 16 in 2018-19.
On the back of that disappointment, Nagelsmann was unwilling to be complacent about the Bundesliga title race as he considered the season as a whole.
“It depends on what happens in the Bundesliga,” said the first-year Bayern coach.
“If we win that, we’ve matched what we did last year, which is not enough for Bayern Munich. The semi-finals should have been our minimum goal, but we’ve not done it.”
While Nagelsmann insisted the damage had been done in Spain, he ranked this result among the three most disappointing of his coaching career.
“To be honest, this is one of the worst three defeats of my career,” he said. “Hoffenheim v Liverpool was tough. RB Leipzig v PSG was difficult to take. We had plenty of chances, this is certainly one of the three toughest occasions.
“As to how we lift the team, everything works as normal. I’ll do my job as usual. [On Wednesday] we’ll start preparing for our next Bundesliga game and I’ll get the team ready for it.
“A team like Bayern has experience with good and bad results. You win together and lose together, and you have to prepare for the next matches together.
“It’s not easy, we will feel bad about [Tuesday], but I will do my best to lift the team.”
Nagelsmann will be relieved he will at least not have to face Villarreal again this season, having grown frustrated by the approach of the LaLiga side, who had just four attempts but scored with their only shot on target.
Crucially, they limited Bayern to four shots on target from their 23 efforts, making seven blocks, and won 11 fouls to slow the pace of the game.
“It’s difficult when the opposition have eight defenders in the penalty box, so it’s never that easy to find your rhythm,” Nagelsmann said.
“We have to score from winning the ball back, as we did. In other situations, it’s super difficult.
“That’s a part of how football is in southern Europe. I don’t want to open up any discussion I’ll have to apologise for next week, but everyone has to see their style for themselves.
“We had a couple of strong tackles where players could reasonably stay down, but not every situation needs to end with a player staying down for three minutes. I’m not going to make excuses about that, though.”
