Thomas Tuchel was openly critical of Dayot Upamecano after the Bayern Munich defender was at fault for Manchester City ’s crucial second goal on Tuesday night.
City claimed a huge 3-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium. Rodri curled a stunning strike into the top corner to give them a 1-0 lead at half-time before Bernardo Silva’s header and Erling Haaland ’s close-range finish gave Pep Guardiola’s side a commanding lead going into the second leg in Germany.
Bayern failed to score for just the second time all season and were complicit in their own downfall at the other end of the pitch. Upamecano was particularly culpable, giving the ball away to Jack Grealish in the build-up to Silva’s goal.
His mistake was highlighted by a frustrated Tuchel, who felt Bayern did not deserve to be on the end of a three-goal defeat. “Result-wise, it’s very tough, but performance-wise not – I loved how we played, I’m very happy with the first 70 minutes,” the Bayern manager told BT Sport.
“We got brutally punished for not a lot – almost nothing – a shot from the left foot of Rodri and half an own goal that we conceded from a big individual mistake.
“We played a very good first half and an even better second half. I think if we had got the goal that we deserved then the momentum can shift in our direction. I felt it. I was very happy on the sidelines and very happy with the attitude and the performance right now. It sounds a bit silly, because the scoreline is 3-0, but we got punished brutally.
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“The first goal, we can defend every goal better in the video session, but if this is it – a shot from number six from 20 metres with the weak foot, I’m happy. If this is the chance we give away in Manchester against City, I’m happy.
“We had a lot of chances today, a lot of shots, we did not have the position, the luck that it finds the top corner. And of course in our very best period, when we dominated and it was a matter of time before we score, when we had a lot of ball possession and dominated the rhythm we made a huge mistake and got punished.”
Upamecano struggled massively during the match on Tuesday night, regularly misplacing passes to surrender possession in dangerous areas. He had a mix-up with goalkeeper Yann Sommer which almost resulted in a City goal before Grealish leapt on his indecision to play in Haaland, who crossed for Silva to head in.
The France international was also at fault for the third goal, which saw him ball-watching as John Stones nodded down Julian Alvarez’s cross for Haaland to tap in.
Upamecano has made 75 appearances for Bayern since joining them from RB Leipzig for £38million two years ago. He was initially a target of Liverpool, but they eventually ended up signing his Leipzig team-mate Ibrahima Konate instead.
