Leroy Sane describes spatial recognition for his goal in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan

Leroy Sane was Bayern Munich’s sparking hero in Milan as Julian Nagelsmann’s side opened up the Champions League group stage with a 2-0 win over Inter Milan. Sane scored Bayern’s first goal and created the second, though it was officially tallied as an own goal from Inter’s Danilo D’Ambrosio. In addition to his goal and (unofficial) assist for Bayern’s second goal, Sane also recorded a total of 3 key passes, second only to Kingsley Coman (5) and completed a join-most 2 successful dribbles alongside Inter’s Edin Dzeko (WhoScored).

In addition to his numbered statistics, Sane proved himself to be a constant nuisance, finding the spaces in-between Inter’s midfield and defensive lines. He’s always most effective when he starts on the left wing, as he did in Milan, but his ability to interchange spaces with Coman, Sadio Mane and Thomas Muller makes him a difficult threat to keep track of, and his teammates are just as difficult to keep at bay in attack. He was constantly finding spaces in between Milan Škriniar, Alessandro Bastoni, and D’Ambrosio. Simone Inzaghi’s back three with two wing-backs system struggled to keep Bayern’s attack at bay and often times looked to be more of a back five, instead.

In the sequence that led to Sane’s finish for Bayern’s first goal, his cleverly timed run found him in the half space in between D’Ambrosio and a retreating Denzel Dumfries, Mane’s stop and go run did force D’Ambrosio to hesitate ever so slightly, but you’d be hard pressed to argue that the center back would’ve caught up to Sane had it not been for that slight moment of hesitation.

Speaking on the goal, Sane made sure to highlight the sublime pass from Joshua Kimmich from just about a yard away from the midfield line. “I spotted the space and knew they would leave gaps there. Then I made the run and Jo saw me very well,” he explained (via @iMiaSanMia).

For Sane, his tally is now at 4 goals and 3 assists from a total of 8 appearances across all competitions for Bayern this season. At the moment, his form is night and day from what it was around this time last season when he was being booed by Bayern fans at the Allianz Arena for losing possession several times in the first half of a win over FC Koln. His form last season was all over the place and he’s the type of player that needs to consistently be turning in strong performances so that his confidence can stay at a high level. He showed what he’s capable of on his day in Milan and his post match comments reflect someone that’s staying humble and not getting carried away with a man of the match performance. “I just want to play a good game, have a good feeling and leave the pitch happy,” he said.

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