Bayern Munich Throw Away Lead but Remain in Driver's Seat in Juventus Tie

Not a single Bayern Munich player bore a smile as he left the pitch following Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League round-of-16 clash with Juventus. Yet by the end of the first leg, the Bavarians had earned a result most teams would covet, one that puts them in commanding position heading into the return game next month.

The 2-2 draw in Turin means that Juve will have to score twice or more in a draw, or beat Bayern by any score, to avoid crashing out of the competition. It's a tall order in any situation, and it will be especially so with the tie heading to the Allianz Arena.

Yet it's understandable why Bayern's players weren't happy with the result. For an hour, they dominated the match.

Throughout the first half, statisticians on social media rattled off the numbers: Juve hardly had a touch in their attacking half, Bayern won the possession by nearly a 4:1 ratio and so on. But these numbers only told part of the story.

Bayern needed to render it impossible for their opponents to use their height to their advantage. That meant no free-kicks anywhere near the attacking third, no corners, and no opportunities to cross from free play.

They achieved this in part by controlling much of the possession, but it went beyond that: Bayern were extremely adept at winning the ball back.

When Juve won possession, they were often forced to punt the ball in a harmless way that made work easy for the Bayern defenders. It was a good thing, with the 1.80-meter David Alaba and 1.76-meter Joshua Kimmich playing as center-backs, flanked by 1.70-meter full-backs Juan Bernat and Philipp Lahm.

As the final minutes of the first half approached, Bayern hadn't exactly dominated the chances on goal. Thomas Muller had failed to put away a golden opportunity, but Mario Mandzukic had also come close for the hosts. And it was 0-0 until just before half-time; the Bundesliga side had put in much better attacking performances before.

Similarly, the possession alone was not particularly impressive by Bayern's standards; they'd won the ball at similar rates in games they'd lost.

What was extremely impressive was their ability to stifle their hosts, rendering a strong and talented Juventus side more or less harmless.

Muller's opener on 43 minutes was thoroughly deserved, and when Arjen Robben made it 2-0 within 10 minutes of the restart, the tie looked done and dusted.

Juve had nothing going forward, and the floodgates looked as though they were opening: Robben's goal had come from a counterattack in which there was simply an inexcusable amount of space afforded to the Bayern attack.

"

#FCBayern at home in the #UCL under Pep #JuveFCB :
4-0 W
5-1 W
5-0 W
3-2 W
6-1 W
7-0 W
3-0 W
2-0 W
1-0 W
0-4 L
3-1 W
1-1 D
2-3 L
5-0 W
3-0 W

— Cristian Nyari (@CrisNyari) February 23, 2016"

Yet Juve climbed back into the tie and ultimately deserved their draw.

In one of the few chances the Serie A side had to take on Bayern's center-backs from a settled starting point, Paulo Dybala finished a great counter of his own. And then Alvaro Morata won a high ball on the left before crossing to Stefano Sturaro for the equalizer: Two instances in which the lack of height in Bayern's back line didn't exactly help their cause.

Juventus had finally begun to exploit their opponents' weakness, and having come back from two goals behind, the result may have felt like more of a win than a draw.

With all things considered, Juve could well have won the match: After going two goals behind, they also had two close calls from efforts by Juan Cuadrado and Paul Pogba.

Bayern looked far more tame over the final half hour. But the match ended in a draw, and the fact of the matter is Juve's standing is worse than it would have been had the two sides played to a boring, lazy 0-0 draw.

For that, Bayern players would have earned a right to smile, even if the course of events does mean they have some distance to go if they are to win the Champions League.

@Mr_Bundesliga