Vincent Kompany Off to a Great Start at Bayern Munich

It was a reassuring win for everyone who witnessed Bayern Munich face SC Freiburg, as the German giant’s 2-0 win gave a positive indication of the season to come. 

It also gives the new manager, Vincent Kompany, reassurance that his methods are working with the star-studded side. 

It is a reassurance to the fans with Bayern tickets that they can take their misfortunes. 

Bayern v SC Freiburg 

Bayern Munich’s second match day of the 2024/25 season against SC Freiburg saw Harry Kane open his goalscoring account, while Thomas Müller made a record-breaking 710th appearance for the Bavarians. Müller is now Bayern’s record appearance maker, surpassing legendary goalkeeper Sepp Maier. 

The Standouts 

Ritsu Doan

The Japanese international continues his strong start to the season following his goal in last week’s

Unfortunately for Doan, he didn’t manage to get on the score sheet against Bayern, but that certainly doesn’t reflect his overall performance.

With a strong work ethic and a tendency to find himself in the right place at the right time, Doan could have been far more problematic had the rest of his team shown up as well.

The 26-year-old winger almost helped his side grab a goal back in the game’s dying embers after his left-footed shot from within the box was blocked by the hand of João Palhinha. Lucas Höler, however, went on to blast the subsequent penalty over the bar and into the stands.

Doan will hope to get back to winning ways when SC Freiburg takes on VFL Bochum on 14 September.

All the fans with Bayern tickets strongly believe that Doan was one of the best signings they made at the time, and they are expecting even bigger things as the season progresses. 

Kim Min-Jae

Kim Min-Jae looked like a player reborn following his mistake-ridden performance against VFL Wolfsburg last weekend.

The Korean defender highlighted everything that makes him such a powerful defender on his day, including strength, speed, and passing ability.

Min-jae’s most pivotal moment came in the 60th minute when he heroically blocked Patrick Osterhage’s shot from the centre of Bayern’s box moments after Dayot Upamecano’s rebounded cross fell directly into the Freiburg midfielder’s path.

Min-jae’s ability to bounce back so radically from last week’s poor showing proved his physical and mental strength.

Joshua Kimmich

This feels like cheating since Joshua Kimmich was technically pencilled in as a right-back. However, given Kompany’s fluid formation, the German international found himself almost exclusively in the midfield throughout the game.

Kimmich’s performance was less a matter of flashy individual brilliance but more an example of how important a small cog plays in helping a team tick over.

The Rottweil-born midfielder proved to be the cog in Bayern’s midfield, allowing them to keep control over Freiburg, eventually forcing a stubborn defence into submission.

Serge Gnabry

According to Kimmich, Serge Gnabry has never worked so hard in preseason to regain his place in Bayern’s starting eleven. Every ounce of that hard work showed against SC Freiburg.

Involved in nearly every single Bayern attack, always acting as an outlet down the right-hand flank and always doing something useful with the ball, Serge Gnabry put in a monstrous performance. He was the pick by those with Bayern tickets for the impact player of the day. 

A perfect summary of Gnabry’s performance came in the 78th minute when his glorious cross from Bayern’s right-hand flank found Müller in the box, who finished classily.

One hopes Gnabry, who has often been criticised for being a form player, can continue his strong start to the season.

Thomas Müller

The day was all about one man and one man only: Thomas Müller.

Seventeen straight Bundesliga seasons, scoring in 16 of those 17 seasons and a total of 710 caps to become Bayern Munich’s record appearance maker. Thomas Müller, take a bow.

In true Thomas Müller fashion, breaking a long-standing Bayern record wasn’t enough. 

In the 78th minute, the 34-year-old veteran brought down Serge Gnabry’s pinpoint cross with a touch of class, blasting the ball in the back of the net to score his 150th Bundesliga goal.

Despite his tender age of 34, Thomas Müller proved that he still has tons to offer this Bayern side, whether in the starting eleven or coming off the bench. As the Germans say, “es ist mehr egal.”

Kimmich to Lead Germany 

As many had anticipated, Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich was named as the new captain for the German national team by head coach Julian Nagelsmann. Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger will join Kimmich as vice-captain and Arsenal’s Kai Havertz as the third captain.

“The new captains are Joshua Kimmich at number one, Antonio Rüdiger and Kai Havertz as vice-captains. I think we have a good mix when it comes to this role. I think we’ve chosen well. They are eager to take on their roles,” Nagelsmann said. 

“Four important players have retired, all of whom have a great history with the DFB and played a key role at the EUROs. We gave them the space they needed to think. You could also tell from the statements that they had thought about what was right. But I had very good discussions with them.

“First with Thomas (Müller), then with Manuel (Neuer) and İlkay (Gündoğan). It was not easy for the players. It was very transparent and emotional. I accept and understand the decision. But the door is never closed. They can always return if the three show outstanding performances at their clubs.”

The team’s new leadership council will also include Kimmich, Jonathan Tah, Pascal Groß, Niclas Füllkrug and Marc-André ter Stegen — but not Rüdiger or Havertz.

“We have deliberately decided to include one of the three captains in the team council — we have nominated four other players to the team council,” said Nagelsmann.

All with Bayern tickets understand that the footballing world has not been nice to Germany since they won the World Cup in 2014. 

With the legends of the German game calling it quits, Nagelsmann must now rebuild a whole new team for the future.