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Ahead of tonight’s quarter-final against Villarreal, Bayern Munich had not lost an away match in the Champions League since September 27, 2017 against Paris Saint-Germain. That would change in eastern Spain on Wednesday.
The clock had not even ticked in eight minutes when Villarreal’s successful player Arnaut Danjuma stayed ahead in the penalty area and headed in 1-0 with his sixth Champions League goal this season.
– The opening of this match is exactly what Villarreal wanted. They are putting a lot of pressure on Bayern Munich now, says Telia and C More’s expert commentator Erik Edman.
At the end of the first half, Villarreal had another ball in the net when Francis Coquelin got the ball out to the left and hit a – what it looked like – misdirected post. The ball found its way into the net at the far post, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR review. 1-0 thus stood in the halftime break.
Shortly after the break, the home team was close to doubling their lead, but Gerard Moreno’s finish hit the post behind an otherwise hopeless Manuel Neuer in Bayern’s goal.
A few minutes later, Neuer was making a real splash, though.
– Geez, what a blunder by Neuer. He is far out and pulls a real vulture killer. There was an opportunity (for Moreno) to give a pass to Danjuma for a free position, says Edman.
Bayern’s pursuit of an equalizer was in vain when Villarreal, who are in the CL quarter-finals for the first time since 2009, held off and won 1-0.
After the match, it was a not entirely satisfied match winner in Arnaut Danjuma who spoke to Uefa.
– My feeling is a bit ambiguous. We won the match, which was very good, but I think we are much better than we showed today. I had a great chance where I should have shot straight, but it’s good to win 1-0 and that there is still a lot to improve. There is a lot more to come from us, in the counterattack game among other things. We know that the next match will be difficult, says Danjuma.
Young Lo Celso till Uefa:
– Bayern were favorites, so I want to first and foremost thank my teammates for the enormous work they put in.
– Villarreal is a hungry team. Even against one of the best teams in the world, even though we are humble, we produced a huge effort. Honestly, we should have won by a larger margin.
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann was depressed when he met the press afterwards.
– We deserved to lose. We were not good today. In the first half we lacked strength in the defense and created too few chances. In the second half it was a completely wild match. We gave up control because we were desperate to score goals, but we could have let in two more, says Nagelsmann to DAZN.
Thomas Müller to DAZN:
– We take the 1-0 result. We know things could have been a lot worse. We must give a lot of respect to our opponents. Now we have to pick ourselves up before the return match and strike back.
The return will be played in Munich on Tuesday next week. Then Bayern hope for a repeat of the round of 16 against RB Salzburg, which ended with a crushing 7-1 victory in Munich.
Startelvor:
Villarreal: Rulli – Foyth, Albiol, Pau Torres, Estupiñán – Coquelin, Capoue, Parejo – Gerard Moreno, Danjuma, Lo Celso.
Bayern Munich: Neuer – Pavard, Upamecano, Lucas Hernández, Davies – Kimmich, Musiala – Coman, Müller, Gnabry – Lewandowski.
All matches in the Champions League play-offs are broadcast live on Telia and C More.
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