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Bayern Munich 1-1 Man City: Haaland scores after missing penalty, night to forget for Upamecano

Manchester City's Norwegian striker Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring the 0-1 opening goal during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, second leg football match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City in Munich, southern Germany on April 19, 2023. (Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
By Mark Critchley and more
Apr 19, 2023
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Erling Haaland missed a penalty but then put Manchester City in front as they drew 1-1 with Pep Guardiola’s old side Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

The result sends City through as 4-1 winners on aggregate, and they will now face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals for the second year in a row.

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City had a comfortable 3-0 lead from the Etihad but were again made to work hard by Bayern, who exploited a lack of pace in the City back line with some fine passes in behind before the break.

Haaland put them in front on the night early in the second half but, with 10 minutes left to play, Bayern were awarded a penalty for a handball by Manuel Akanji on the byline as Sadio Mane tried to cross. Joshua Kimmich drilled the spot-kick past Ederson to make it 1-1.

Raphael Honigstein, Mark Critchley and Mark Carey analyse the key talking points from Munich…

Guardiola named unchanged XI again — will they have enough to beat Real?
Critchley: It was not always as comfortable as the 4-1 aggregate scoreline suggests but it was also rarely in doubt. Man City have downed Bayern Munich, a giant of European football, and will now face another. It is Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals once again. Just like last year, the team that has somehow kept failing to win this competition in recent seasons comes up against the team that has somehow kept winning it.

And next stop: the site of last season’s extraordinary late heartache, the Santiago Bernabeu. Perhaps that is no bad thing. That the second leg is at home could be significant. At the very least, it avoids a sense of total deja vu. The tie will be decided at the Etihad. And there is reason to believe things are different this time.

As tense as this quarter-final might have been, the relative ease which Bayern were dispatched with should breed confidence. It is also breeding consistency. This was the first time that City have named the same XI in three consecutive Champions League games. After years of tinkering too much, especially in this competition, Guardiola seems to be settling on his best side too.

Will it have enough to beat the champions of Europe?

Haaland torments Upamecano and equals Van Nistelrooy record
Carey: It was another evening to forget for Bayern centre-back Dayot Upamecano.

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The Frenchman was a pressing victim in the first leg having made multiple mistakes in City’s 3-0 victory. In this game, he had a rescinded red card, conceded a penalty and made a crucial slip to allow Haaland to put the tie to bed in the second half.

In Upamecano’s defence, most centre-backs have the fear of god put into them when facing Haaland. His customary goal came in the 57th minute, following a devastating breakaway goal from City within 20 seconds of nearly conceding the opening goal of the game.

Haaland has now scored 12 Champions League goals for City this season — equalling the season record for a Premier League player in the competition (Ruud van Nistelrooy, 12 in 2002-03 for Manchester United).

Haaland’s night was mixed by his own standards. The Norwegian looked to be embracing the atmosphere in the Allianz Arena, running tirelessly for any loose ball and offering a potent threat for City on the counter-attack.

However, there was a rare sighting from Haaland, after he blazed a penalty over the bar in the first half — his first penalty missed since April 2021 for Borussia Dortmund.


Halaand saw his penalty attempt fly over Yann Sommer’s crossbar in the 37th minute (Photo: Stuart Franklin – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Did that miss matter in the larger picture of the tie? No.

Will Haaland be furious about not adding to his tally further? You bet.

Bayern’s direct passing caused City problems
Honigstein: Before the game, Thomas Tuchel had talked about Bayern Munich having a lot of deep possession (inside their own half) and then transitioning through midfield quickly.

One way the home side got the wrong side of City’s midfield regularly in the first half was to feed straight, low passes into Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting with his back to goal, holding off Ruben Dias. The centre-forward, returning to action after suffering from back and knee problems, laid the ball off intelligently eight times to pull apart City’s back four and provide opportunities to play in the wingers, the second pillar of Tuchel’s attacking strategy.

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Unfortunately for the home side, Choupo-Moting was not quite as effective in getting into good positions within the box. The 34-year-old was unable to make any telling contribution in front of goal — one blocked backheel aside — before the break and then shot weakly halfway through the second half, when Bayern struggled to rebuild momentum after Haaland’s opener.

Ake was troubled by balls played in behind
Critchley: City knew what they had to do in this second leg. Guardiola spelt it out for them the previous evening. “Control the transition in every circumstance because the pace they have is unbelievable,” he said. In other words: drop off. But they also had to be “more effective in our high pressing than we were”. In other words: push up.

In other words, they had to walk a tightrope and that was particularly the case for this defence of four centre-backs. Is it any wonder then that — without the recovery pace of Kyle Walker, for example — City looked vulnerable to balls in behind, especially down Nathan Ake’s side in the early stages?

This beefed-up back four excelled at the more old-fashioned, backs-to-the-wall manner of blocks and tackles during the first leg — defending “when you have to defend”, as Guardiola calls it — and still did not concede in 173 minutes against one of Europe’s best, but it is not without its limitations when trying to meet the demands of their manager.

A different approach from Pep
Carey: Manchester City’s display will not be the template that we return to when running the video on a “typical Pep Guardiola side”, but you can bet that Guardiola will have ultimately loved what he saw from his side.

Even against the elite sides, we are so accustomed to seeing Manchester City dominate the ball and relentlessly look to regain possession when they lose it. Tonight was different. For context, City’s field tilt — ie the share of possession a team has in a game, considering only touches or passes in the attacking third — was just 42 per cent, which is the lowest territorial dominance they have shown in the Champions League in the last five seasons.

The remit was different after having such a comfortable 3-0 scoreline to defend and Guardiola declaring that he will look to stop Bayern’s transitions (which they did to varying success), but it shows how considered the approach was from the manager.

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City are becoming more hardened, savvy and experienced in the Champions League knockout stages. Where previously they might have cowered under pressure against Europe’s heavyweights, City looked focused. It has become business-like, as they fixate their gaze on a Premier League, FA Cup and — the most elusive of all — Champions League trophy.

City’s goal underlines their threat on the transition
Critchley: For all the talk of Bayern’s speed, and for all the problems that Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane initially caused, this quarter-final was settled by City’s own threat on the counter-attack — a string to their bow that has often gone unappreciated among the hundreds and thousands of passes.

City needed just three passes and 14 seconds — from John Stones’ clearance at one end to Haaland’s finish at the other — to make sure of a place in the last four. This ability to turn defence into attack has always been there. In fact, it is probably why Tuchel persisted with Upamecano for so long: of Bayern’s defence, only he had the speed to deal with Haaland’s threat in behind.


Yet, even that was not enough — as Upamecano will have realised while picking himself up off the floor, just as Haaland steered the ball past Yann Sommer. City are not only the best possession side in European football, they are one of the best on the break too.

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I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...