Friendship's Little Boat Capsized Without Warning

If the first twenty-odd minutes had seen Bayern and Barcelona throw themselves into the attack, determined to make something big happen, then after both sides scored, they had each been brought back to their senses.

Bayern was no soft touch, while Barcelona's passing, possession, forward movement, and penetration were equally difficult to defend against.

Even a team as strong as Bayern could do little more than adopt a defensive stance against Barcelona's possession game.

Bayern held the physical advantage, whether in height or strength, so set pieces were also an important scoring weapon.

But Mourinho had clearly strengthened his preparations in that area. Bayern had failed to gain any advantage from their several free kicks and corners in the first half, while Su Dong, Lucio, Pepe, and the others were all under tight marking.

In the end, the two sides went into halftime level at one-one.

It had taken just two minutes to go from leading by one goal to being pegged back by their opponents.

There was no denying that conceding had dealt Bayern a heavy blow.

Heynckes was fairly satisfied with the team's first-half performance, but some serious problems had also emerged.

According to Bayern's pre-match plan, the team was supposed to begin pressing from the forwards, preventing the opposition from passing the ball into the middle and attacking third. Once that high press failed, Bayern would immediately drop back and organize a solid defensive line.

The plan looked beautiful, and with Bayern's tactical discipline, it should not have been difficult to execute. Yet when they actually tried to carry it out in the match, some deviations still appeared.

Much of Mourinho's tactics involved sending direct long balls toward Ibrahimovic. As a result, before Bayern could even begin their high press, they were forced to hurry