FC Bayern Munich’s scouting is occasionally inspired by top performances in direct duels – this is also the case with the current goalkeeper search. But last summer alone, two players came to FCB who had previously shone in direct encounters.
Does Yann Sommer change or does he not change to Bayern? Everyone is asking this question at the moment. We ask ourselves: How did Sommer even recommend a change?
Of course in a direct duel! An old pattern at FCB. Players perform well against the record champions and end up on the wish list. We’ll show you who else did that.
Since Bundesliga players are likely to be the focus of Bayern scouting anyway, we are concentrating on international transfers. Because Sommer’s brilliant performances against FC Bayern also have a long history.
Yan Summers
Of course, most people think of his outstanding performances in the Borussia Mönchengladbach jersey. For example, at the last meeting in August, when Yann Sommer smashed the Bundesliga parade record and fended off 19 shots on goal by Bayern.
But even with his ex-club FC Basel, Sommer brought Munich to despair. For example in the Champions League 2011/12. In the round of 16 first leg on February 22, 2012, FCB shot ten times in the direction of Sommer’s goal, but none found their way in. Basel won the first leg 1-0 before the summer magic disappeared in the second leg: Bayern’s Sommers team shot down 7-0.
That was the last meeting with Bayern for the time being, until the Swiss moved to Gladbach two years later and has been annoying Munich in the Bundesliga ever since.
Incidentally, winger Xerdan Shaqiri, who was transferred to FC Bayern in the summer of 2012, was also used in the duels with Basel. But he no longer had to impress the Bayern bosses: the Munich team had already made Shaqiri’s change perfect at the beginning of February. He only confirmed the performances already shown.
Connie Torstensson
The Swedish right winger met FC Bayern with his hometown club Atvidaberg in the first round of the 1973/74 national championship cup. After a 1-3 defeat in the first leg, he netted twice in the second leg. Only thanks to a late goal from Uli Hoeneß did FC Bayern save themselves in extra time and ultimately prevailed on penalties. It wasn’t Torstensson’s fault, he sunk his attempt.
He stayed in the competition anyway because he joined the victorious FC Bayern shortly after the duel. On the way to Munich’s first national championship cup triumph, he scored four more goals. In the two years that followed, he defended Europe’s throne with FC Bayern. In 1977 he finally moved on to FC Zurich.
Bixante Lizarazu
The French left-back lost the 1996 UEFA Cup final against FC Bayern with Girondins Bordeaux, but still attracted positive attention as captain.
After a year at Athletic Bilbao, he moved to Munich in 1997 for 4.5 million euros. Lizarazu initially stayed until 2004 before returning after a brief visit to Olympique Marseille from 2005 to 2006.
Roy Makay
The Dutch striker scored Deportivo La Coruna in the first group game of the 2002/03 Champions League season in a 3-2 win over FC Bayern. In total, he scored 39 competitive goals that season.
Reason enough for FC Bayern to strike. However, the obligation itself turned out to be quite complicated, as the Munich team had to do with La Coruna’s legendary President Augusto Cesar Lendoiro. As a condition for release, he is said to have demanded that Makaay waive his last salary. “He really blackmailed Makaay. That was the bottom drawer,” complained Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
In the end, Makaay switched to FC Bayern for what was then a club-internal record sum of around 20 million euros. Meanwhile, Rummenigge was considering legal action against Deportivo and Lendoiro. “We want an official procedure. Things happened that this gentleman will regret,” he said and asked FIFA to “take a close look at Deportivo’s books”. But there was no trial.
In the following three years, Makaay was a regular for FC Bayern and scored 103 competitive goals. After the arrival of Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni in 2007, he went to Feyenoord in his native Netherlands.
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk
Because FC Bayern only finished fourth in the 2006/07 Bundesliga season, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team had to compete in the unloved UEFA Cup. After a wild quarter-final duel with FC Getafe, the Munich team lost in the semi-finals to eventual winner Zenit St. Petersburg. A 1:1 in the first leg was followed by a 0:4 in the second leg. Tymoshchuk pulled the strings in Zenit midfield.
A year later, FC Bayern brought the Ukrainian with the blond mane to Munich for eleven million euros. Although he brought his own hairdresser with him, he never managed to become the undisputed regular player. He probably made his best game in the lost final at home against Chelsea in 2012 in an unusual role as a central defender. In 2013 he was still able to celebrate the CL title, then he returned to Zenit on a free transfer.
Douglas Costa
In February 2015, Douglas Costa’s Shakhtar Donetzk beat FC Bayern 0-0 in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 before going 0-7 in the second leg.
Six months later, the Brazilian winger moved to Munich for 30 million euros. In the official press release from FC Bayern, his performance against Munich was explicitly mentioned. Costa “already proved his technical skills, his strong left foot, his mobility and speed in the Champions League round of 16 in the Shakhtar Donetsk shirt against FC Bayern”.
In Munich, however, he did so only rudimentarily. After two years, he joined Juve on loan and then permanently before returning on loan for a disappointing 2020/21 season. He currently plays for MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy in the USA.
Renato Sanches
In the 2015/16 season, the then 18-year-old midfielder made his big breakthrough at Benfica. In the quarter-finals in the Champions League against FC Bayern (0: 1, 2: 2) he showed two strong performances. “He’s one of the best young players in Europe. I don’t know how much longer he’ll be playing for Benfica,” announced Bayern’s former coach Pep Guardiola meaningfully during the duel.
After winning the European Championship with the Portuguese national team, Sanches finally moved to Munich in the summer of 2016 for 35 million euros. But he didn’t prevail there, and a loan to Swansea didn’t help either. In 2019 he moved to OSC Lille for €20m, where he became French champion.
He recommended himself for a transfer to the French top club Paris Saint-Germain. So far he has been a rotation player there, but was also thrown back by several minor injuries.
Bouna Sarr
In preparation for the 2020 Champions League final tournament, FC Bayern played a friendly against Olympique Marseille. In Lisbon, Munich then won the title – and shortly afterwards OM player Sarr.
Although Marseille lost the friendly 1-0, right-back Hansi Flick was convincing. “I played quite well. Your coach liked my performance and he said he wanted to get me,” Sarr later reported RMC.
On the last day of the transfer period, he finally came for eight million euros and signed until 2024. Since then, however, Sarr has been completely disappointing and is considered one of the biggest (and most expensive) transfer flops in club history.
Sadio Mane
In January 2014, Mané’s then-club RB Salzburg won a friendly against Pep Guardiola’s FC Bayern 3-0. Mane made it 1-0, took the penalty to make it 2-0 and set up the 3-0. “My advisor Björn Bezemer later informed me that there was contact with Bayern after this game,” Mané reported in the sports picture. However, the change did not come about and neither did 2015 and 2019, when Bayern was interested again.
In spring 2019, Mane – now at Liverpool – kicked Bayern out of the Champions League with a brace in a 3-1 round of 16 second leg. In 2022, the obligation finally worked.
Noussair Mazraoui
As in the case of Mané, the Moroccan right-back’s gala appearance against FC Bayern was a bit back. He shone in a Champions League group game in autumn 2018.
Mazraoui drew 1-1 with Ajax in the Allianz Arena and he equalized himself. Ajax only lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals. Mazraoui won three more league titles before moving to Munich on a free transfer.
