Why Lille are so dangerous
At this point, nobody is going to be sleeping on Lille. If a victory over the Champions League’s most mythical side, Real Madrid, wasn’t enough to awaken fans fro their slumber, then Les Dogues taking down another giant of Spanish football 3-1 surely must do the trick.
It would be wrong to state that Lille dominated the game against Atletico Madrid, who had several great chances to pull ahead of their Ligue 1 opponents on Wednesday night.
The difference is that they didn’t take them, nor did they show the championship grit that was so typical of those famous Diego Simeone sides in the 2010s. Instead, it was Lille who buckled down with a bodies-on-the-line defensive approach while relying on the brilliance of their two main attacking stars to force the issue against the more expensive side.
Lille can make more noise in the Champions League, and they are successful at killing titans of the competition precisely because they have the right ingredients of an underdog.
Firstly, they have an ideal attacking one-two punch with a big, clinical striker in Jonathan David and a tricky right winger in Edon Zhegrova. Both have propensity of turning very little into a whole lot, needing just the finest of margins to create a chance and then convert said chance into a decisive goal.
They are backed by a strong defensive supporting cast, young and old, from up-and-comers like right back Tiago Santos to seasoned veterans like 34-year-old defensive midfielder Benjamin Andre.
Lille are built to grind out these tough matches. They love winning ugly, even as they do have players with great individual quality, such as David, Zhegrova, and even goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.
It’s time for Bayern Munich to move on from Manuel Neuer
This section isn’t just about the singular performance against Barcelona, but, rather, an overarching commentary of Manuel Neuer’s poor performances over the past two seasons.
Aside from one exceptional display against Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals, which he undid with a crucial gaffe, Neuer’s usually lengthy list of signature saves and marquee moments were quite barren in the 2023/24 season.
Neuer came into the 2024/25 campaign with a save percentage well under 70 percent in his last, and, at the age of 38, there was already a steady undertone of talk that now was the time to finally – and seriously – look for his replacement.
The Bayern Munich captain is one of several big names at the club on expiring contracts, but unlike Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies, no effort should be made to keep the German international around as a starter, even as a contract extension seems to be a mere formality.
Neuer is the greatest goalkeeper of all time and has changed the position more profoundly than anyone else in the history of the game. Even as the decline began to start creeping in a few years ago, Neuer remained above-average statistically and legitimately great in the Champions League.
Wednesday night’s 4-1 defeat to Barcelona was a harsh reminder that, at 38, Neuer no longer transcends the game; he falls back down to earth. Watching him flail desperately as Raphinha coasted to a hat trick was difficult to watch, and while it’s hard to argue that an average goalkeeper wouldn’t have done better, the standard set at Bayern Munich is a lot greater than average.
Additionally, the discussion about the need to move on from Neuer goes beyond one game. In the Bundesliga this season, Neuer has been a disaster, saving just 53.8 percent of the shots he has faced while surrendering nearly a half a goal per game more than what would be expected from an average goalkeeper.
Alexander Nubel is on loan, there to be had for free, and Bayern could easily sign a number of other talented young goalkeepers if they aren’t sold on Neuer, such as the aforementioned Lucas Chevalier of Lille.
Whatever they choose, they can’t choose Neuer. He’s done. It’s time to move on. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the worst starter on Bayern Munich and the only one who is not statistically above average at his position.
Hansi Flick is the best manager in the world
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bayern Munich have to be kicking themselves for both firing Hansi Flick in the first place and backing an inept management team and then secondly not rehiring Flick this past summer when they had the chance.
Bayern got front row seats to the same Hansi Flick show that once helped them orchestrate an 8-2 blowout of Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, en route to a treble. Now, Flick was the one who dismantled them, using the likes of Fermin Lopez, Raphinha, and former Bayern superstar Robert Lewandowski to coast to a 4-1 win that felt more like 7-1.
Individually, Raphinha was the star of the show, but, as a team, Barcelona were a cohesive unit that smelled blood and attacked relentlessly, just as the Hansi Flick sides are built to do.
Flick’s approach is not without its weaknesses in terms of defensive vulnerabilities, but on this day, it was clearly Vincent Kompany’s back line that looked cobbled together and ill-disciplined positionally – an irony given Kompany’s stature as an iconic Premier League center back.
With each game that Barcelona wins by a margin of three goals and puts on vintage attacking football, Flick further enhances his reputation as the world’s best manager, getting more out of the players he already had without the need for much offseason investment.
Whereas managers like Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, and Carlo Anceloti have always relied on their clubs feeding them the finest players and spending to win, Flick only had one major addition, Dani Olmo, and is making things work with a host of players Barcelona either thought of selling or a host of prospects who weren’t even called up before his arrival.
Flick’s results at Bayern in 2019/20 and now in Barcelona this season are nothing short of remarkable. They are immediate turnarounds. You can always count on Flick’s sides to deliver in dominance, aesthetics, and, most importantly, results. What a statement game this was for both Barca and their German coach.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.
