Ex-Man Utd and Real Madrid target Nagelsmann slaughtered after Bayern's Champions League exit

FT Desk

• Updated: 13 Apr 2022 04:27 CDT
• 4 min read

Bayern Munich have been unceremoniously dumped out of the UEFA Champions League, and players and press alike have laid the blame on their coach, Julian Nagelsmann.

Bayern were beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Villarreal, the Spanish side winning last week's first leg 1-0 before securing a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, with second-half substitute Samuel Chukwueze cancelling out Robert Lewandowski's opener late on.

Nagelsmann's predecessor Hansi Flick won a sextuple of trophies in 2019/20 before taking the Germany job, but Bayern can now only win the Bundesliga this season, having also suffered an early exit from the DFB Pokal. The coach himself knows it isn't good enough.

"The Champions League semi-final is always the minimum goal," he said. "We didn't manage to achieve that. Winning only the league title is not enough for FC Bayern."

Is Nagelsmann to blame?

Nagelsmann became the youngest coach in German top-flight history when he took the reins at Hoffenheim in October 2015 at the tender age of 28. He also steered RB Leipzig to a runners-up spot behind Bayern last season.

But he still has some growing to do on and off the pitch. Still just 34, Nagelsmann seemed to take victory for granted when the draw was made, something Villarreal midfielder Dani Parejo picked up on.

"When the draw was made and they got Villarreal, their coach, whom I don't know, disrespected not only Villarreal but also football by saying he wanted to settle the tie in the first leg," he told Spanish media outlet Movistar. "It was disrespectful. Sometimes when you spit up, it falls on your face."

On-field problems

Whilst sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has previously come in for criticism for signing players like Bouna Sarr, Marc Roca and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting - and allowing the likes of Thiago Alcantara and David Alaba to leave on frees to Liverpool and Real Madrid respectively - Bayern still boast a fearsome squad.

How Nagelsmann puts them together has, perhaps correctly, come in for criticism. Bayern won everything there is to win two short seasons ago with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Nagelsmann has tried to implement a 3-2-4-1 where the wide men, Leroy Sane and Kingsley Coman, simply aren't wing-backs.

"Bayern play in a bizarre and above all uninspired way," wrote a Sport1 editorial. "Coach Julian Nagelsmann is responsible for this. The replacement of Alphonso Davies by Lucas Hernandez just before the Spanish goal - although the Frenchman could not continue due to injury - should not be considered the smartest decision of this young 'coach's' career."

"A team exhausted by an internal crisis that points to a change in cycle," wrote Spanish outlet El Pais. "Yellow Submarine sinks Bayern," was the gleeful headline of Austria's Kronen Zeitung.

What's next for Bayern and Nagelsmann?

Lewandowski is reportedly in discussion about a move to Barcelona, and Bayern would struggle to match the reported total package of €355m it would take to lure Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.

Centre-back Niklas Sule - out with illness for the Villarreal game - is another who will leave on a free, to Dortmund, this summer. A 10th consecutive Bundesliga title is now a minimum requirement, and sporting director Oliver Kahn still has Nagelsmann's back for now.

"Of course it's always disappointing when you concede a goal just before the end," he said. "We could'e done made it 2-0 earlier. You can't really blame the team, they tried everything. There aren't many more uncomfortable teams to play against than Villarreal."