Build it and they will come. That had been the message coming out of Bayern Munich’s corridors of power over the international break, from Vincent Kompany, Max Eberl and the higher-ups. If there had been a fortnight’s worth of heel-kicking it was just that; not stewing, not sulking, but a belief that Bayern were ready to unload on an opponent, with the excellence and exhilaration of their play so far this season bound to reach critical mass.
Even for a club constantly walled in by hyperbole and overreaction, the description of the team’s pre-international break run of three games without a win as Kompany’s first “mini-crisis” had felt faintly ludicrous. For starters, they were still unbeaten in the Bundesliga and top of the table. The mood suggested a determination to correct course, rather than recrimination and fury. “For me it isn’t a matter of belief,” Kompany told Bild after Saturday’s 4-0 win over Stuttgart. “It is about what the analysis showed. That we were dominant, that we had many, many, many more chances than the opponents.” Their winless run was hardly against nobodies either, but against champions Leverkusen, then Aston Villa on a Champions League night for the ages and lastly in-form Eintracht Frankfurt.
