Bayern Munich came away with a 1-0 win against Benfica in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal. Bayern’s struggles away from home mean that this tie is anything but over. In the first leg, Bayern dominated the initial 20 minutes and with Vidal scoring so early, they threatened to book their place in the semifinals in those 20 minutes itself. Benfica’s defense and midfield was ruthlessly being dragged out of position with Bayern’s precise switching of play from one side of the pitch to another.
Analysis – Bayern switch of play against Benfica by DG-Sports
In the second half, Benfica reacted well by keeping a close watch on Bayern’s wingers and sometimes double teaming against them. So after Benfica started adapting to this well,the game became slow and they started pressing forward for the away goal. As a reaction to this Bayern went into a shell and started their meaningless possession game which has been a big problem for Guardiola’ teams right from his last season at Barcelona. Special mention to Vidal’s performance as the Chilean was literally everywhere running from one box to another.
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