Bayern Munich haven’t lost in the Bundesliga so far this season, with 10 wins from 11 matches. Up until Wednesday evening – and facing Arsenal – they hadn’t lost in the Champions league either.
Hype around the club has been growing in Germany. Perhaps that hype has got a little carried away, with Bayern dominating what isn’t the best version of the Bundesliga in recent years.
The Premier League may not be at the peak of its quality either, but is certainly higher and Arsenal face more serious weekly challenges than the German club. Mikel Arteta’s side were able to put all this together to come out victorious, with a 3-1 victory in Munich.
That’s somewhat taken the wind out of Bayern Munich’s sails.
German newspaper Bild have rated the players from each team, and their ratings are different to elsewhere in Europe.
Whilst most ratings are out of 10, or sometimes 5, Bild use the German school grading system. 1 means very good, 2 is good, 3 is average, 4 is passable but still lacking, 5 is deficient and 6 is insufficient. 6 is the lowest possible grade. Taking it back to the school grades, it means that not only were things not up to standard, but there was even a failure to understand the basics.
Harry Kane was given a 4, which is unusually poor for him. Bild explained the former Tottenham Hotspur player was ‘mocked’ by Arsenal fans and wasn’t able to have his usual impact.
The German newspaper believe the best player on the pitch was Declan Rice. He was given a 1, which isn’t something handed out often by Bild.