The defense does not rest: Bayern Munich’s Niklas Süle and Dayot Upamecano battled to slow down Erling Haaland

Stopping Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland is no easy task, but Bayern Munich’s backline did just bout as good a job as anyone has against the Norwegian phenom.

Center-backs Niklas Süle and Dayot Upamecano teamed with outside-backs Alphonso Davies and Josip Stanisic to help slow down Haaland, was was a relentless, physical force throughout the contest earlier this week.

Haaland, though, is just a physical marvel and requires the full attention of an entire backline for the entirety of a match. Bayern Munich’s foursome, however, worked diligently to not let Haaland get loose.

The question remains, though, what happens when Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard return to health? A three-man center-back rotation between Süle, Upamecano, and Hernandez at least sounds pretty formidable, while it also looks like you could do a lot worse than having Stanisic backing up Pavard.

Julian Nagelsmann, however, will have to sort all of that out, but the preseason and early parts of the season have given the new boss some confidence in what he has in terms of the quality of the squad’s depth along the backline.