Let's move on: Thomas Müller with a cooling towel on the back of his neck after the game.
Image: dpa
The heat in Charlotte was extremely hard on all the players. Harry Kane with a water bottle during a drink break, teammate Michael Olise on the left.
Image: dpa
Manuel Neuer looks after the ball.
Image: dpa
Let's move on: Thomas Müller with a cooling towel on the back of his neck after the game.
Image: dpa
The heat in Charlotte was extremely hard on all the players. Harry Kane with a water bottle during a drink break, teammate Michael Olise on the left.
Image: dpa
Manuel Neuer looks after the ball.
Image: dpa
Bayern lose for the first time at the Club World Cup. As group runners-up, they now face Flamengo in the round of 16. The coach justifies his large rotation.
25.06.2025, 07:36
25.06.2025, 07:40
dpa
Thomas Müller was perplexed, but reacted quick-wittedly. "Are we in Dortmund now? Are we already having mental problems?" was the Bayern veteran's somewhat incredulous reaction after the German football champions' 0:1 in the final preliminary round match of the Club World Cup against Benfica Lisbon, which secured Portugal's record champions first place in Group C ahead of Munich.
No, Müller could not explain the poor performance in the first half purely on mental grounds: "We're right on track in terms of our mentality of wanting to win here." However, coach Vincent Kompany had changed the starting line-up in seven positions due to the extreme afternoon heat in Charlotte.
Munich tournament veterans Müller (35) and Manuel Neuer (39) are in no way rattled going into next Sunday's round of 16 tie against Brazil's top team Flamengo in Miami (22:00 CEST). "I know that a knockout round like this is always a game with fire. But I'm convinced that we'll be here for some time," said Müller. As top of the group, they would have once again been exposed to climatic challenges in a clash with Chelsea FC in Charlotte.
"We'll play the big games then"
Captain Neuer is also "very positive" going into the second phase of the World Cup despite the first defeat of the tournament and a possible quarter-final against Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain. "If we continue to play like we did in the second half, then this will be a very good tournament," he said. Now it's on to the knockout games - "and these big games, that's what we'll do".
Müller also recalled from his long tournament experience the shaky Algeria game "at our glorious World Cup victory" in Brazil in 2014, when they only progressed with great difficulty against the blatant outsiders in the round of 16. With every tournament winner, there are moments "when things get tight and not everything goes perfectly".
Kompany: Otherwise all the players are dead
Kompany, meanwhile, justified his extensive rotation in the starting eleven, which meant that top players such as Joshua Kimmich, Harry Kane and Michael Olise were only given wild card appearances in the second half. Bayern's play promptly improved with the substitutions, only the potential goals failed to materialize.
The coach spoke of "very logical decisions" in the blazing furnace of Charlotte. He had wanted to avoid "the players all being dead because they played 90 minutes here in the heat". His aim was to create "the best possible conditions for the next game" against Flamengo in order to win the tournament in the end. "And a positive result will prove me right."
