5 Talking Points from Bayern Munich's Champions League Mauling of Rostov
Few eyebrows will have been raised at five-time European champions Bayern Munich dismissing Champions League debutants FC Rostov 5-0 on Tuesday evening.
Joshua Kimmich's brace was complemented by goals from Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and late substitute Juan Bernat as the Bavarian giants opened their Group D campaign with aplomb.
Bayern are top of the section, with a plus-four goal difference to Atletico Madrid—the Spanish side beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 in the other game in the group.
Carlo Ancelotti's maiden season as Bayern coach is off to a flyer, but what else did we learn from the rout of Rostov at the Allianz Arena?
Kimmich looks increasingly like the long-term successor to Philipp Lahm
"He played very well," said coach Ancelotti of Kimmich after the 21-year-old scored two goals in seven second-half minutes to put the result beyond doubt. "He's on a really good run and staying focused."
Kimmich's run has indeed been impressive. This time last year, he was a defensive midfielder signed from RB Leipzig hoping to one day break into Bayern's first XI.
Fast-forward to mid-September 2016 and Kimmich has spent the last 10 days opening his account for Germany—in their FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over Norway—helping himself to his first Bundesliga goal in Bayern's 2-0 victory over Schalke and scoring for the first and second time at European club football's top table.
While the goals are noteworthy, it is the completeness of Kimmich's game that stands out. Last season he played the majority of his 23 Bundesliga appearances from centre-back as Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Javi Martinez each struggled with injury.
Bayern's 14 clean sheets in that time vindicated the notion that the VfB Stuttgart academy graduate could play further back than his preferred No. 6 position—German footballing lexicon for the deeper of the two central midfielders in front of the back four.
Now, though, he is proving equally adept at the other end of the pitch. Both of his goals on Tuesday came from well-timed runs into the box, with an instinctual close-range finish followed by a textbook striker's header.
Club captain Lahm was rested for the game, with Rafinha playing right-back and Kimmich pushed forward. Lahm was rejuvenated as a midfielder under Pep Guardiola in recent seasons, and Kimmich now looks ready to pick up his mantle, both in terms of his versatility and his in-game impact.
"When Philipp retires at Bayern in two years we don't have to worry about his position," academy coach Hermann Gerland told TZ (h/t FourFourTwo) in June.
After Tuesday's man-of-the-match performance from Kimmich, it is becoming increasingly difficult to disagree.
Renato Sanches could struggle to break into Bayern's midfield
Renato Sanches was signed from Benfica for a reported €35 million in the summer, but not before helping Portugal win Euro 2016 at hosts France's expense.
A dynamic box-to-box midfielder, Sanches only turned 19 last month, and there is understandably excitement about his nascent talent.
"He will be a very important player," fellow Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso was quoted as saying by ESPN FC. "He has a lot of energy, he is very strong, and he is hungry. Hungry to win every title. He is a very good signing for the club."
While it is true that Sanches has boundless energy—and an eye-catching ability to score from range with little backlift on his shots—he perhaps lacks the Spaniard's ability to pick a pass for the time being.
Sanches was struggling up against Schalke's new signing Yevhen Konoplyanka last Friday before Ancelotti replaced him with Kimmich for the final 20 minutes with the scores at 0-0. Kimmich—as we now know—proved crucial, helping steer Bayern to victory with the final goal in the 92nd minute.
Sanches got a 20-minute run-out against Rostov—replacing Thiago Alcantara—but the Spain international, alongside Kimmich and Arturo Vidal, had bossed the game until that point.
Bayern concluded the tie with 797 passes to Rostov's 247, 90 per cent of which were completed. Evergreen Alonso, who set a Bundesliga record with 204 touches of the ball in 2-0 victory at Cologne in September 2014, was on the bench throughout on Tuesday.
Add in the roaring form of Kimmich and Sanches' path to a starting place begins to look blocked, at least for now.
Lewandowski might be the world's most clinical striker
Lewandowski's opening goal against Rostov was admittedly from the penalty spot, but Russian goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev never had any chance against the prolific Pole, getting sent the wrong way as the striker picked up what was already his eighth Bayern goal this term.
Throw in Lewandowski's goal for Poland in their 2-2 draw with Kazakhstan in early September and the 28-year-old has scored nine goals in his last five competitive games for club and country, which equates to a goal every 50 minutes.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi—widely regarded as the world's best player—has scored eight goals in his last five games.
The completeness of Lewandowski's game means debate as to his position among luminaries of the world game is merited. He earned the foul for the penalty he converted and played a crucial role in the buildup to Bernat's strike that bookended the fixture.
Lewandowski has now scored 33 Champions League goals in just 53 games. He is yet to miss two consecutive games for Bayern, and his reading of the game and ability to keep his level up for 90 minutes mean that Ingolstadt will rightly be nervous when they visit the Allianz on Saturday.
Ancelotti seems like a worthy successor to Guardiola
"I'm pleased that we've got off to a good start," said Ancelotti when asked about the Rostov victory in the post-match press conference.
While it would be folly to read too much into a victory against a team making their debut in the Champions League, it is unavoidably the case that Bayern brought the Italian tactician in to replace the Manchester City-bound Guardiola due to his European record.
A back-to-back European Cup winner with AC Milan as a player in 1989 and 1990, Ancelotti has since won the Champions League as coach of Milan, twice, and Real Madrid, making him the only manager to have won the competition three times.
His record after five competitive games reads: five wins, 20 goals scored, none conceded. The 5-0 win over Rostov means that Bayern have already surged to the top of Group D with four more goals than Atletico.
Finishing the group stage as winners would leave the Reds seeded for the round-of-16 draw on December 12, likely making the path to a first Champions League title for the club since 2013 clearer.
The squad could use an extra centre-back
The lone blemish for Bayern on Tuesday was that Mats Hummels was substituted six minutes into the second half after picking up an injury.
"[He] took a knock," said Ancelotti post-game. "I didn't want to take any risks, so I chose to bring him off for a rest."
Medhi Benatia and Serdar Tasci were allowed to leave this summer, but with Boateng once again struggling with injury and last season's stop-gap Kimmich now flourishing in midfield, Bayern might wish they had allowed one of them to stay, if only for back-up.
Javi Martinez and David Alaba will nominally feature in defensive midfield and at left-back, respectively, and though both can step into the heart of the defence, it is the one area where extra cover in the winter transfer window might prove welcome.
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