Daily Schmankerl: The aftermath of Bayern-Benfica; Tuchel and Henrique are already feuding; and MORE!

Die Folgen: Bayern Munich vs. Benfica (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern was not completely sharp, but was still good enough to go into Estádio da Luz Lisbon and come out with a 2-0 victory. Here are some quick hitters on the match:

• This was one of those rare occasions where it was really hard to pick out any Bayern players that were completely off. It seemed as if each player has more than a few moments where they were really impactful in the game. It certainly speaks to depth on the squad.
• It wasn’t perfect, though. The forwards and midfielders had some issues syncing up at times, but Niko Kovac was deploying a lot of parts that didn’t exactly have much time to mesh to this point in the season.
• Robert Lewandowski took a physical beating, but was superb. The Polish Hitman required all of Benfica’s attention and boy did that open things up for the likes of Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez, and Renato Sanches.

• If you could pick out one really great area it was the defensive foursome that including Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba, and Joshua Kimmich. It is not often when Kimmich would rank lowest in performance from that quarter, but Hummels, Boateng, and Alaba were all excellent. Kimmich was decent, but didn’t have one of his prototypical games.
• Manuel Neuer is just solid. He was only called upon to make four saves — including one that was extremely tough — and he handled each opportunity with aplomb. It’s just easy to overlook him sometimes because he’s that good and often gets taken for granted.
• Thomas Muller celebrated his 100th UCL appearance.
• Benfica was game, but didn’t have enough fuel in the tank to really challenge Bayern over the course of 90 minutes.
• It wasn’t really always pretty, but it was hard to find major faults with Bayern yesterday. Of course we could all nitpick a bit, but Die Roten went into a tough away venue and came out with a victory, which was the end goal.

If you missed our Match Awards or Observations, give them a look:

Miss the game because of the stupid Champions League TV deal? Here are the highlights (FCBayern.com)

I am not a fan of the Champions League TV deal. Frankly, Turner has excluded a lot of fans and is pushing to make others spend even more on soccer coverage just to watch. Regardless, here is the highlight package per FCBayern.com.

Thomas Tuchel and Antero Henrique are already battling at Paris Saint-Germain (onefootball.com)

Thomas Tuchel may be a very talented coach, but he has a way of...fighting with a lot of people. His latest combatant is (allegedly) Uli Hoeneß’s antagonist and PSG sporting director Antero Henrique.

According to Le Parisien, it appears that PSG boss Thomas Tuchel may feel the same way. The French newspaper states that Tuchel and sporting director Antero Henrique aren’t on speaking terms anymore. Meanwhile, PSG CEO Nassar Al-Khelaifi remains “strangely discreet.”

It’s been reported that Henrique was unimpressed by the Emir of Qatar choosing Tuchel in the first place and that the pair’s working relationship has been very awkward. PSG’s midfield has been decimated this offseason and the French club failed to bring in a reinforcement to replace Thiago Motta, much to Tuchel’s frustration.

In fact, the only midfielder PSG acquired in three months was Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting, who arrived on a free transfer from Stoke on deadline day. Choupo-Moting previously worked with Tuchel at Mainz, where the midfielder enjoyed the best spell of his career.

Niko Kovac looks better and better every day...

Allianz Arena playing surface gets a makeover (FCBayern.com)

The Allianz Arena is getting a new playing surface.

After a good 13 months of operation, the turf in the Allianz Arena has become obsolete and the Bayern pros will play for the next Bundesliga home match against FC Augsburg on a new track. Since the last turf change in August 2017, a total of 29 games for FC Bayern Munich, a national match of the German national team and other amateur tournaments were held in the arena, which made the replacement of the old green necessary — in the thirteenth year of operation of the Allianz Arena is changing the turf for the eleventh time.

Bayern U19s drop 3-0 decision to Benfica (FCBayern.com)

The U19s could not get on the scoreboard in their UEFA Youth League match as Bayern fell to Benfica, 3-0. Coach Sebastian Hoeness acknowledged that Benfica was the better team on the day:

Benfica deserved to win. In the final third, they wanted more. Both teams wanted to play offensively. But we just missed the last punch at the front.

David Moyes would consider the USMNT job (StarsandStripesFC)

Because having a coach in place has to happen at some point, the USMNT may start expanding its horizons for its coaching search. Check out the details at StarsandStripesFC.com.

A call for fan groups (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

We are trying something here at the Daily Schmankerl and need YOUR help. If you read my man Tommy Adams’ piece about his experience with the FCBNYC Fan Club (if you haven’t, SHAME ON YOU!), you could see how great the event was. So we want to highlight some of these wonderful groups that are out there globally and this is what we need from you:

• Name of the group
• Location
• Year founded
• Leadership (if you have people are kind of running the show)
• Meeting place
• Social media handles
• Pictures

We have 7 clubs on board so far. I’d LOVE to be able to feature a different fan group every week this season. Maybe we can do it, maybe not...but only YOU can help decide the fate of this idea. Send your info to: barrelsportsblog@gmail.com.