Dayot Upamecano became a tragic figure in FC Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund: The 23-year-old central defender played an outstanding game – before he lost his bearings after defensive changes.
Borussia Dortmund’s late comeback in the Bundesliga’s top game against FC Bayern Munich is definitely also due to player changes. The only question is: which one was decisive? This is an excellent topic for discussion. Two are possible, both happened when Bayern led 2-0 in the middle of the second half and pushed for the 3-0.
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic brought in Anthony Modeste to set up Youssoufa Moukoko’s second goal and equalize deep in injury time. Shortly before Modeste’s momentous substitution, Julian Nagelsmann had to reorganize his hitherto secure defense: Noussair Mazraoui came on for the ailing Matthijs de Ligt. Benjamin Pavard joined Dayot Upamecano in central defence, Mazraoui took over on the right – and the stability was gone.
At 2:1, Upamecano and Josip Stanisic, who came on at half-time for Alphonso Davies, who was also injured, made a mistake. At 2: 2 there was general disorder, the main fault lay with Mazraoui and again Stanisic. The fact that Upamecano, of all people, initiated the turnaround with a mistake was a tragic note in the top game, as he had confirmed his impressive development up to that point. He was the best man on the pitch.
FC Bayern and the situation in central defense
In his first season at Bayern, Upamecano regularly fluctuated between genius and madness. Strong performances alternated with devastating ones like the 0:5 in the DFB-Pokal against Borussia Mönchengladbach. When a new rival, Matthijs de Ligt, came for a lot of money in the summer, a farewell even seemed possible for a short time. But Upamecano rose to the challenge and has recorded the most minutes of action of any central defender this season.
At first there was an interplay between Upamecano, de Ligt and Lucas Hernandez, until Hernandez tore a muscle about four weeks ago. There are different views about the healing process: Nagelsmann was rather skeptical at the press conference before the Dortmund game, while consultant Frank Hocquemiller spread optimism. “Lucas will be playing at Bayern before the end of the month,” he said RMC.
Julian Nagelsmann praised Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt
Due to Hernandez’ failure, Upamecano and de Ligt suddenly had no alternatives, most recently they started next to each other four times in a row and coordinated increasingly better: de Ligt the strong communicator, present, robust defender. Upamecano the duel machine with beautiful wide passes.
At the press conference before the Dortmund game, Nagelsmann attested to both “an excellent development”: “Matthijs is doing us very well and Upa is a clear case for the national team for me. For me he is the most stable French central defender. He only has one mistake against Borussia Mönchengladbach. His game has matured.”
The French national coach Didier Deschamps had recently ignored Upamecano for a long time before he nominated him for the first time in almost a year for the last international match period and once even ordered him into the starting XI.
Dayot Upamecano in Dortmund: Brilliant performance and blunders
In Dortmund, Upamecano probably showed his best performance of the season until the defense change. The statistics are still outstanding after the final whistle: Upamecano won around 89 percent of his duels and recorded the most ball contacts, ball wins and clearances of his team.
If it hadn’t been for this one scene in the 74th minute, when the coordination with his new neighbor Pavard didn’t work out and Upamecano lost the duel against template provider Modeste. In a way, it was a little reminder of the supposedly forgotten Upamecano. The one who vacillates between genius and madness.
For him personally and the general stability of FC Bayern, a speedy return of the ailing de Ligt would be of great importance. “He has a bit of an adductor problem,” Nagelsmann explained after the game. “We don’t have that many central defenders at the moment, so we can’t take that much risk.”
Pavard, who is known to dream of a future in the center, did not recommend himself in Dortmund for a permanent transfer – and his representative on the right Mazraoui not for a starting place.
