Article by Andrei Niculescu – Published Wednesday, 05 November 2025, 15:08 / Updated Wednesday, 05 November 2025 15:09
I will start this text with the end. With the PS as it would come.
Unfortunately, just as I finished writing about what happened in the Champions League, I also received the sad news of this day. The man who brought this trophy to Romania is no more. Our football has lost a pillar, a landmark, of performance and elegance, something so rare these days.
May you rest in peace, nea Imi! From today you have become a legend!
But life and football will go on. He was not convinced that Imi still liked them!
Finals on a Tuesday
It happened that on this Tuesday in the Champions League we have two possible semi-finals, why not finals. To play at the same time PSG, the title champion and, theoretically, the main favorite, and Real Madrid, the “by default” favorite of this competition, and Liverpool, the winner of the most difficult championship in the world, but also Bayern, the team that everyone longed to see in a more complicated duel than the ones that the Bundesliga offers every week.
I'll just add that Arsenal also played on Tuesday, another contender for the trophy if we look at how they play and what lot they have, and on Wednesday Barcelona, City and Inter, other possible finalists, were to enter the scene. And this is how, before we start the discussion, we realize how difficult it has become today to catch, not the final, but a semi-final of the Champions League, what a huge consumption involves entering the last act and how many values have been collected in this really super League.
Bayern's strength
PSG – Bayern Munich. PHOTO: Imago Images
So I waited for the Bayern team. The only team in football that matters that has so far collected only victories. “Let's see them with Paris!” we all said as we counted Kompany's successes, Harry Kane's goals and Luis Diaz's goals. And, yes, I saw them.
The Bavarians' show of strength on the “Parc des Princes” made the people from “L Equipe” write in the chronicle of the game that Bayern is the best team in the world at the moment. Luis Enrique's Paris, which everyone cheered last season and applauded a month ago, when they won, with half of the starters injured, in Barcelona, could only give a goal to the Bavarians in numerical superiority. And even so, it wasn't enough for them.
The fact that Bayern won in Paris is a signal that things are completely different in Munich this year, but the fact that Bayern withstood a half with 10 men to secure victory it's downright a mass punch given by Kompany and his.
A Kompany that Bayern's bosses rushed to tie “de glie” right after Pep Guardiola, with the air of a Manchester monarch, said that the Belgian will certainly be the future coach of City. “Sooner or later”, Pep said, but in Munich he didn't think twice and immediately the proposal to extend the contract until 2029, with the related salary increase, landed on the table of the former captain of the “citizens”. Who didn't think twice and signed, seeing in this a full recognition of his merits.
The same Kompany who aroused puzzled looks at the time of his appointment, “how do you put a coach at Bayern who was relegated with Burnley?!”. And if there were naysayers to say that last season's title win came easily and as a result of the natural disintegration of Bayer Leverkusen, now no one can say anything.
Perhaps he should look more closely at what Bayern is proposing today. Beyond the exceptional quality of the superstars, Bayern have aligned themselves with the trend and started to look more closely at the youngsters in their own backyard. Something the Bavarian club was not used to doing in the past. He didn't reject the idea, let's face it, see Musiala or Alphonso Davies, but he didn't make it an end in itself either. That's how this Lennart Karl, 17, appeared, out of nowhere practically, that's how Bischof, 20, appeared Wisdom Mike, 17, that's how backup goalie Urbig appeared.
But that's not what makes Bayern stand out. But through the total football that he proposes. Last week, “Bild” offered an extremely interesting statistic of the kilometers traveled on average now, compared to the 2023-24 championship, the one with Tuchel as coach.
I think it's no wonder that Bayern is now the clear leader in this regard. But do you know where Tuchel was in this hierarchy? On the penultimate!! Only Darmstadt fared worse (also relegated). 115.14 km was the average of that season, 121.82 is the average of the current season. The difference is huge, but it explains the way Kompany sees the game, it explains the aggressive and coordinated pressing of his players. Bayern play, but at the same time they don't let their opponent play.
Of course, no one won the Champions League in November. And Paris knows best. In a way and Liverpool, who seemed unstoppable last year at this time. But Tuesday's display shows that Bayern will be hard to beat, especially since the Bundesliga doesn't give them any trouble. The same “Bild” wrote on Sunday, after 3-0 with Leverkusen, that the second set of the Bavarians is enough to win the championship.
And now, that the match with PSG is over, we put another marker on the calendar: Arsenal-Bayern, Wednesday, November 26. By the way, do you know how many goals Arsenal have scored so far in all competitions? I'm telling you, look no further: three. Alone in action!
Wirz's position
Liverpool-Real Madrid confirmed to us on Tuesday that, for now, the Premier League – La Liga dispute is clearly dominated by the British. Out of 7 matches played between the representatives of the two championships, the score is 6-1 for the English, the only Spanish victory being Barcelona's, at Newcastle. Which is not Liverpool, not Arsenal, not City, not even Chelsea.
From Madrid's point of view, the failure is confirmation that Xabi Alonso still has a long way to go. Buoyed by a “Clasico” won in front of a Barcelona with many problems, the Madrid players woke up to reality at “Anfield”. Where they didn't get 5 like “Metropolitano” just because they have the best goalkeeper in the world.
Matches against tough opponents are still a test for Real Madrid, because if we are to remember, with a bit of luck on that occasion of Kounde, the Catalans could leave the “Bernabeu” with a point, even on crutches as they approached that match.
Lost in the intensity of the Premier League proposed by the “cormorants”, Xabi Alonso's boys can consider themselves satisfied with the score on the table. And this despite significantly better possession, which shows that you have the ball for nothing if you can't do anything with it. And despite a rather low-key performance from Mo Salah, far from the storm of last season, when he was looking for a new contract.
The ratio of 9-2 shots on goal is worthy of a Liverpool-Burnley, not a Liverpool-Real Madrid and closes any kind of discussion on this topic. Maybe just one more remark fits: Huijsen lost 13 balls!!
Florian Wirtz
It was the match where Liverpool fans discovered Florian Wirtz. I think Arne Slot also discovered it. I even think that he also discovered that the position in which he would give the best return is somehow to the left, with some freedom of movement.
Before the match, Arsene Wenger said that as far as he knew, the German had been promised to play somewhere in midfield, and Slot looked to keep that promise. With severe consequences on the balance of the team, including the bizarre right-back Szoboszlai!! In the weekend, with Aston Villa, Slot resettled the midfield to last season's dimensions, and the Mac Allister-Gravenberch-Szoboszlai triple brought back that balance, which had been lost.
Liverpool found their rhythm on this occasion, and Florian Wirtz, his smile. Arne Slot now has the footballer who can light up the game, starting from the control of those in the middle. To top it off, Wirtz was also wanted by Xabi Alonso, but maybe Szoboszlai was just what the Magdalenians needed.
