Monchengladbach Draw a Wake-Up Call for Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich had a chance to clinch a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title on Saturday as they faced Borussia Monchengladbach. But the German giants, who have steamrolled almost all opposition this season, were held to a draw and will have to wait at least another week to uncork the champagne.

Bundesliga fans of all non-Bayern varieties will probably be pleased the record champions failed to win the title on Saturday. Not because there’s a chance of the Munich giants being caught, but because winning the championship with the starting lineup Pep Guardiola chose would have been quite depressing from a neutral’s perspective.

The trainer selected a team featuring reserves such as Rafinha, Sebastian Rode, Joshua Kimmich and even Serdar Tasci. This wasn’t the XI of a team serious about doing everything necessary to get three points and finish off the Bundesliga title race. It was indicative of a side with other priorities to handle in the near future.

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Bayern will have to wait a bit longer for title celebrations. That being said, it will feel quite hollow of they fail to get past Atleti.

— Marco Conradie (@MarcoConradie10) April 30, 2016"

Guardiola’s decision was perhaps prudent given the match came between the two legs of Bayern’s UEFA Champions League semi-final tie with Atletico Madrid. Every player needs to be sharp for the high-stakes clash with Diego Simeone’s men, and granting weary stars a bit of rest was a sensible decision.

The Bavarians entered the match with the magic number being three to clinch tie title; any combination of results involving them gaining or Borussia Dortmund losing three points would have settled this season's Bundesliga title race. Now that number is two.

Still, Bayern are in dangerous territory if recent history is any indicator. In each of the last two seasons, they played brilliantly for almost the entire campaign, only to see their form plummet late in the spring. Dropping a few points in the Bundesliga didn’t prevent them from winning the title in either case, but a general loss of form saw them eliminated from the Champions League. Last year, it also saw them eliminated from the DFB-Pokal.

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Maybe not winning the league is a good thing for Bayern before the Atletico game? Need to maintain focus. #FCBBMG

— Cristian Nyari (@CrisNyari) April 30, 2016"

Some have claimed the Bavarians of yesteryear lost a bit of motivation after winning the league well ahead of the final matchday; others have speculated the cause was starters not playing for an extended period of time. Whatever the reason, the result was a lot of hard work resulting in perhaps less than it could have produced in terms of titles and tournament progress.

On Saturday, Guardiola opted to use a mix of first-team regulars and reserves, and the result was a rather underwhelming performance. It almost was enough to win the game—Bayern held the lead from the sixth minute until the final quarter of the game—but Andre Hahn scored a deserved equalizer and the visitors held on to claim their point.

Bayern will host Atleti on Tuesday having failed to win each of their last two games and will need a decisive upturn of form if they are to overturn their 1-0 first-leg deficit. It’s entirely doable, but this Bayern team is susceptible to the volatility of momentum; they often win even without getting out of first gear, but when things go wrong, bad results can snowball fast.

Thus, Bayern will need a decisive performance against Atleti on Tuesday. They should take the Gladbach draw not as just an ordinary result, perhaps expected given their lineup. But instead, it should be a wakeup call. Otherwise, it could mean a second consecutive year with just the Bundesliga to show for a team that should be reaching the Champions League final and winning the German Cup.

@Mr_Bundesliga