Bayern Munich’s underpowered squad shows why they need a big summer transfer window

Bayern Munich’s 2-1 home defeat against Inter Milan on Tuesday was probably deserved.

But they created enough chances at Allianz Arena to have won the game and when head coach Vincent Kompany said, “We still have full belief we can win” in the aftermath, it was justified. This Champions League run remains alive.

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If there was a conclusion to draw, though, it was that this Bayern squad looks dangerously exposed to the demands of European football. It needs much work in the summer — and beyond — to befit a club of such scale and ambition. Bayern have plenty of good players. What they lack, perhaps, is a group that is tiered and structured in the right way.

They are being undermined by a debilitating run of injuries. Alphonso Davies, Dayot Upamecano, Hiroki Ito and Jamal Musiala were all ruled out of this game and among that four, only Upamecano has any chance of playing again this season. Kingsley Coman, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Manuel Neuer were all unavailable against Inter, too, but all three have an outside chance of featuring next week.

Still, that meant seven potential starters missing, forcing Kompany to source creative solutions. Josip Stanisic was played at left-back, on the wrong side for a right-footed player. He has been used there before, but never looks as comfortable as he does on the other flank.

Raphael Guerreiro was pushed high up the pitch, into Musiala’s attacking midfield role. Guerreiro is a genuine utility player. He was often used that way at Borussia Dortmund before he moved to Bayern on a free transfer in 2023, and while nominally a left-back, he has been deployed in deep midfield, and sometimes in more advanced positions, too.

Raphael Guerreiro filled in higher up the pitch for Bayern (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Both played reasonably well. Guerreiro, particularly in the first half, was part of an aggressive, five-man Bayern press when Inter had the ball in their own defensive third. With possession, he also helped build and sustain attacking moves that, on a different night, with some better finishing — from Harry Kane especially — might have yielded a few goals.

And yet Bayern’s defeat was not a surprise, and neither were the flaws in a squad that — increasingly — has too much of a gap between its stars and its supporting cast.

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No side in the world take this number of injuries perfectly in their stride. This level of disruption will always tell and especially so against a group of players as cohesive and gifted as Inter. But there are teams who equipped to cope better.

It was no coincidence that the two goals Simone Inzaghi’s team scored were the result of slick transitions, the type that expose unfamiliar systems. Inter capitalised on gaps between centre-halves and full-backs. They exploited imbalances that left Bayern short-handed on the break and the chasms that appeared between the defence and midfield.

This squad depth issue can be viewed in two ways.

Most obviously, in how well the first XI is supported by strength on the bench. Of Kompany’s eight outfield substitutes on Tuesday, two — Lennart Karl and Jonah Kusi-Asare (both 17) have never played a Bundesliga or European minute for the club, and a third, Jonathan Asp (19) only has a solitary senior minute to his name. A fourth, Gabriel Vidovic (21), is a fine prospect, but has only four league minutes all season, three of which came on loan at Mainz.

Vincent Kompany’s reserves do not offer the same qualities as his starters (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

While this situation will ease when senior players return to fitness, Bayern do not have reserves who can seamlessly take the place of starters. Nobody should expect a replacement to be of equal ability, but it is reasonable to anticipate a club of Bayern’s stature bringing on back-ups who can perform in roughly the same way, without altering the side’s general rhythm and balance.

Take Davies as an example. There are few full-backs as dynamic or as penetrative as the Canadian in world football, but there is also nobody in his position in Bayern’s squad who even shares many of his traits — nobody as quick, nobody who underlaps or overlaps in the same way. Any time he is injured, Bayern’s entire left-side needs to be rewired and loses much of its thrust.

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Musiala is another concern. It’s perfectly respectable to recognise him as a rare, world-class player. But the absence of another playmaker who can create chances from similar positions, or against a low block, makes Bayern vulnerable to any injury he suffers.

Given how often Musiala carries the ball past defenders and is exposed to physical contact, having an understudy in that position would seem essential. Not a replacement, but — again — a player who mimics some of his attributes. His skill on the ball, his capacity to draw defenders towards him and his ability to operate in congested penalty boxes.

The same point can be made about Harry Kane. Or Michael Olise, perhaps.

Michael Olise’s class is hard to replace (Alexandra Beier/AFP via Getty Images)

Losing players of that calibre would hurt any side, but this spate of injuries is still a prompt for Bayern to reinforce themselves better, in a way which does not force the kind of tactical redesign which lay at the heart of Tuesday’s defeat.

At full strength, they are talented and powerful side. There is plenty to like in their squad, too, and the age demographics — with Musiala, Pavlovic, Olise and goalkeeper Jonas Urbig all 23 or younger — are a sign of health. Tom Bischof will arrive from Hoffenheim in the summer, too, and even at 19 he is already a very fine player.

But there’s more to do. Bayern need to better equip themselves to protect their best qualities and ease their dependence on a small number of players. That must be the next step, regardless of what happens in San Siro next week.

(Top photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

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