Viktoria Plzeň vs Bayern Munich: Reactions round-up

Woooo! Bayern Munich have qualified for the Champions League Round of 16 after their 4-2 triumph over FC Viktoria Plzeň. Here, we’ll take you back through all our game coverage and the post-game happenings on a banner day for the German Rekordmeister.

If you missed our Initial Analysis, Match Awards, Observations, Postgame Podcast, or Chuck’s game summary in Die Folgen, please also give them a look for a listen!

We begin with the celebrations :-)

Head coach Julian Nagelsmann was full of praise for his players. The season has been uneven, and questions have been regularly asked about Bayern’s goal-scoring potential. This was a day to show they still had it:

But Plzeň fought back hard in the second half, as Bayern got their younger prospects some game time. Nagelsmann could only tip his hats to the opposition for making the real beginnings of a comeback:

Plzeň coach Michal Bílek was equally proud. In the first fixture, he could only bemoan — “there’s so much pace!” While the gulf in class was still evident, the Czech champions showed for a half that they could do something against the mightiest of Europe. They still have a chance, if slight, of making it to the Europa league over FC Barcelona:

Bild and kicker chimed in with their player ratings for both teams. What did you all think? A bit harsh on the full-backs, or fair for some less-than-top defensive work?

One player unanimous in receiving plaudits: Bayern’s Leon Goretzka, who has made a surging return from his latest injury troubles. Goretzka reflected on his brace and the team’s up-and-down performance over the course of the full 90’:

Another man of the hour — the man between the sticks. Manuel Neuer’s injury status for the next Bundesliga game this Sunday is still unclear. But Sven, as ever, is ready to go:

Youngster Paul Wanner — can you believe he’s still yet to turn 17? — earned some praise from the manager as well for his twenty-minute cameo as left-back:

With the win, Bayern have afforded themselves some breathing room and taken a bit of the heat off the recent Bundesliga results. The manager is grateful, but stressed that it’s also already time to go full bore ahead to prepare for SC Freiburg:

Circling back, here was the first-half scary moment when our beloved Raumdeuter Thomas Müller simply walked off the pitch, to be later subbed for Mathys Tel. Thankfully, it proved nothing serious — the only stains on the day coming in Plzeň’s second-half goals.

And finally — news emerged after the game that Nagelsmann’s right-hand man, assistant coach Dino Toppmöller, was being eyed by other clubs, among them VfB Stuttgart, who have a fresh vacancy after sacking Pellegrino Matarazzo.

Thankfully, Dino’s staying at least for this year. But you get the sense it won’t be long before more opportunities open up:

That’s it for the post-game round-up! Here again, the postgame pod to play us out: