After four wins from four games, Bayern remain on course—but are they still vulnerable? Vincent Kompany has a different theory.
Fortunately, soccer games almost always consist of two halves, which has been a source of great joy for FC Bayern in the 2026 calendar year so far. Or a reason to be on alert, depending on who you ask. Or whether you ask at all and, to quote the ever-positive-critical Joshua Kimmich, want to “look for the fly in the ointment”?!
Both in the opener against Wolfsburg (8-1), then in Cologne (3-1), in Leipzig (5-1) and also on Wednesday in the Champions League against Saint-Gilloise (2-0), the German record champions from Munich got off to a very slow start (which may also be due to the freezing weather), and in Leipzig and against the Belgian leaders, they even failed to score before the break for the first time since April last year.
If you add up all the first halves of these four games, Bayern would have a meager goal difference of 3:3. The second half, on the other hand, reveals an impressive 15:0. “Our advantage is that we are very, very fit,” rejoices leader Kimmich. “So it’s no problem to decide the games from the 60th minute onwards.”
The midfielder, who has just returned from injury, never lacks confidence, and there is no question that it is an outstanding quality to be so good that you inevitably score at least one more goal than your opponent at some point. However, even Kimmich will be aware that even the mighty FC Bayern cannot always rely on waking up at some point in the game and shifting up a gear.
So what’s the situation? Is everything fine because everything has gone well so far? Or is there room for improvement because there is more to come than an 18-3 record in four games?
“The question has come up often, and I’ve thought about it…” Kompany explained on Friday before the Bavarian derby against FC Augsburg – and changed his perspective. “If you turn it around a bit, you could say that it’s a problem for the other teams because they’ve always gotten weaker in the second half. Right?” That’s true. “It’s the Bundesliga, you can’t expect everything to be so easy in the first 45 minutes when the opponent is so fresh and has a game plan, that we score two or three goals and it’s already over. That’s just not possible. Not in the Bundesliga, not in the Champions League.“ However, the Bayern coach does see a difference between the games against Wolfsburg, Cologne, and Saint-Gilloise – and the one in Leipzig. ”They,“ meaning the so-called Rasenballsportler, ”were clearly better than us. I don’t want to see that.”
Incidentally, this led to a somewhat louder half-time talk than usual. An angry Kompany appealed to his team’s decency in Leipzig. “We have to know how strong we are and be totally convinced of what we can do.” But, and this is a big but: “I don’t like unnecessary arrogance. I don’t like it when we suddenly do less than usual. It doesn’t matter if we’re ten points ahead or five points behind. For me, the work is simply important. It’s a sign of respect for the club and the opponent.“ Kompany, who is usually calm, says clearly: ”When I get angry, it’s because I feel that we’re slipping up a bit.” Like in Leipzig. “We survived and wrote a totally different story in the second half.” And scored five goals. “In the other games, it was more of a normal football match. The ideal scenario is when we score three or four goals in the first half. But it’s also ideal when you finish the game physically strong. Not when you’re good in the first half and bad in the second. If that were the case, it might become a bigger issue for us. But that’s always been the case for our opponents. Maybe it’s a bigger issue for them…”
