Chapter 833: The Unlucky Lewandowski
With the blitzkrieg attack from Schalke failing, Bayern grasped the tempo once again, with the combination of Josua Kimmich, Jerome Boateng, and Niklas Sule controlling the midfield area.
It was clear that Suat Serdar and Omar Mascarell didn’t stand a chance here, and they also knew this full well. That was why, instead of chasing every ball aimlessly, they dropped back so close to the defensive line, creating a barrier with six players in front of the penalty box to repel all the attacks.
The two wingers on the flanks today, Fabian Reese and Benito Raman, also helped, guarding the sideline when the fullback had to shrink deeply into the penalty box. Hell, even the two strikers were also chasing around, wanting to push back the opponent’s defensive line as far away as possible.
Honestly, this should be one hell of a masterclass in positional defense, and if only they were not down on the scoreboard, everyone would praise them for their success in containing Bayern’s offense.
However, since they had already conceded one goal in the first half, the sentiment was different inside the stadium.
"They need a goal to tie the score, and yet they still have time to play a parking bus? Damn, they have already determined to lose, huh?"
"What a coward! They don’t even want to try here! It would be good if a team like this is getting relegated!"
"Psst! Don’t talk about it out loud! You know that the camera could catch your words, right?"
Well, the noises from the stand unfortunately failed to reach Schalke’s players right now. They still tried their best to maintain their solid defense, not wanting to get breached by Bayern’s frontline.
It also helped that they knew their own limitations. All the players with the blue jersey figured out that if they wanted to break through the opponent’s defense forcefully, they would only lose the ball in an embarrassing manner, and the counterattack scenario that Bayern threw earlier would definitely happen again.
No, the team’s defense couldn’t afford that, so it was better to hold back first while also waiting for a special opportunity to rise.
Before that, though, of course, they had to take care of Bayern’s offense first. The home team still used the same approach here, wanting to overwhelm Schalke with more shots. Some of them were even way too far from the goal, not enough to bother Higo on the back line.
However, it seemed that they were so fixated on quantity rather than quality right now.
Not that they didn’t have any quality attack, per se. At one moment, in the 56th minute of the game, Serge Gnabry suddenly managed to cut into the half-space area, receiving the ball from Leon Goretzka.
With a quick movement there, he shook off Omar Mascarell and Sebastian Rudy, who wanted to stop him, creating a great angle for himself to shoot before launching a devastating strike to Higo’s goal.
CLANK!
Even though Higo dived to get the ball, the aim was so crazy that it got through the boy’s gloves. Fortunately, the rotation wasn’t that much since it didn’t curl in time, letting the ball only hit the goalpost loudly.
Still, this alone was enough to make Higo sweat, finding that Bayern’s players kept getting closer to the goal.
’Fuck! We have to do something here!’ The boy glanced at the sideline, especially the head coach there. ’If we keep maintaining this pace, clairvoyance or not, they would destroy me sooner or later! Come on, Sensei! Make a fucking change!’
Fortunately, Frohing wasn’t blind. He had already seen the weakness that got exploited so much by Bayern Munich today, and right after Gnabry’s dangerous threat, the man made a decisive move.
"Number 17, Goncalo Paciencia, out! Number 22, Jonas Hofmann, in!"
Yeah, the Portuguese striker was subbed off for a midfielder at the center. This was a tactical movement to strengthen the area in front of the team’s defense, wanting them to not get overwhelmed by the combination of Thomas Muller, Josua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, and the rest of the Bayern players on the frontline.
Well, it worked to some extent, as Jonas Hofmann was a true fighter in the midfield, always chasing the ball relentlessly. He even managed to kick out Leon Goretzka, forcing the man to go back to the half-line since every time the man got the ball, he would press so tightly with a little bit of push here and there.
Still, even though the setback caused by Jonas Hofmann was annoying, that didn’t mean it was unsolvable. No, for a team with heavenly resources like Bayern Munich, dealing with this situation was easy.
They had so many methods to break through the three midfielders in the middle, and this time, they decided to go for the flank side, letting Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané take over the whole situation.
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Not just them; their wingbacks also played a big role in this regard. Benjamin Pavard, especially, started to launch a dangerous diagonal cross from the right side, one that both Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski had been waiting for since the beginning of the game.
Hell, at some points, the French defender managed to initiate Bayern’s infamous offensive play, almost breaking through Higo’s goal.
It all started with Benjamin Pavard sending a diagonal pass to the penalty box. There, Thomas Muller somehow managed to win the header against Benjamin Stambouli. However, instead of delivering the ball to the goal, he passed it to the other side of the goal, where all the defenders had already gotten dragged away from that spot.
Robert Lewandowski, who was already in an open position, didn’t hesitate to execute the ball here. With a half-volley with his left foot...
BAM!
The rocket was launched from a close distance, one that would be impossible for Higo to stop even with all the clairvoyance ability that he had.
However, luck seemed to be on Schalke’s side right now, as instead of going into the goal directly, the ball somehow flew far above the goal. Hell, even Higo himself had his jaw dropped, looking at where the ball was flying before turning to Lewandowski with the corner of his lips twitching madly.
’Wait, you can miss such an easy chance?!’