Breaking Down Bastian Schweinsteiger's Performance for Bayern Munich vs. Mainz

There wasn't very much to marvel at during Bayern Munich's 2-0 win over Mainz on Saturday afternoon. Sure, bouquets of flowers were handed out before the game, fans cheered another league title throughout and the club celebrated their 25th German top-flight triumph upon a podium after the final whistle. But the football itself was very much beside the point.

Pep Guardiola's team arrived at the Allianz Arena knowing full well that their summer holidays had started the minute their Champions League semi-final tie with Barcelona came to an end.

As such, against a Mainz team that had very little incentive themselves, fans and critics alike were forced to witness a game of football that ultimately meant very little to either side.

Yet there were a few points worth talking about from the game. Mario Gotze was once again nowhere to be seen and Robert Lewandowski's recapturing of his Borussia Dortmund form was as clear as day. However, most interest of all was Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Not only did the 30-year-old perform admirably on his 500th appearance for the club, but he also may well have forged a new position for next season.

Guardiola opted for a more traditional 4-3-3 formation, which included Schweinsteiger in the middle of the pitch alongside Xabi Alonso and Philipp Lahm. With Thomas Muller and Gotze flanking the aforementioned Polish striker, it looked as though it would be another game in which the Germany captain simply patrolled the middle of the park.

Yet what we saw from Schweinsteiger was a performance and style of play more befitting of a No. 10 or indeed a shadow striker than the usual box-to-box role he tends to play. 

Squawka

As we can see from the Squawka graphic, which depicts the midfielder's passes over the course of the 90 minutes, Schweinsteiger had little trouble receiving the ball on the edge of the Mainz box and making passes to his left and right.

A lot of the passing is still situated deeper and focused down the left flank of Bayern's formation, yet we can see just how often he made his way in to the final third for Bayern as something of a playmaker.

This was perhaps due to Muller's substitution at half-time for the more wing-driven Mitchell Weiser, which afforded Schweinsteiger more space to exploit in the middle of the park.

Usually, Gotze and Muller start on the wing and tend to drift inside to receive the ball, but if the latter isn't on the pitch and is replaced with an actual winger, then that clearly frees up the space for one of the central midfielders to advance through the middle of the pitch.

Yet it wasn't just Schweinsteiger's passing that suggested he had an appetite for playing his football further up the field. He also fancied himself as something of a striker. 

Looking at the Squawka graphic below—showing the player's heat map throughout the game—we can see that Schweinsteiger primarily focused on playing on the edge of the opposition box and also spent a large part of the game shooting within the Mainz box.

Squawka

According to Squawka stats, the Bayern vice-captain managed to take five shots on Saturday, with one ultimately going in when he doubled his side's lead in the 48th minute. A goal befitting of any striker, let alone an attacking midfielder, and a moment of class that summed up the 30-year-old's game on the day.

Such a performance may just go down as a good game for Schweinsteiger, but as he gets older and struggles to keep up with the gruelling shift any box-to-box midfielder has to put in each week, there may be a temptation to simply keep the midfielder further up the park as a more traditional No. 10. 

As we've seen with Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and, to a lesser extent, Andrea Pirlo at Juventus, players of such skill still offer so much if a manager can specify their role in the team and minimise the amount of tracking back or running around they have to do.

Schweinsteiger made a game of what was really little more than exhibition match on Saturday, putting in a performance that may well give Guardiola plenty to mull over during the coming summer months.

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