Bayern fortunate to escape with narrow loss

That Villarreal would end Wednesday's game disappointed was very much part of the script. That it would be at their failure to score more against a rattled Bayern Munich was very much not.

While Bayern have brushed aside the challenge of Borussia Dortmund's Yellow Wall in the Bundesliga they had no answer for the Yellow Submarine, as Arnaut Danjuma's early goal settled the first leg of this quarterfinal.

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann had some big decisions to make prematch, with Alphonso Davies and Leon Goretzka both pushing for returns after months out with a heart complaint and a knee injury, respectively. Davies started while Goretzka had to make do with the bench. By the time the final whistle blew on a triumphant El Madrigal stadium, Goretzka wore a bandage over a new head wound and Davies sat on the turf looking utterly spent, the pair a fitting illustration of their team's mood.

Lacking drive

"It was deserved that we lost," the Bayern coach admitted to DAZN. "We had little power in the first half and it was wild in the second. It was not a good game from us."

Villareal may have looked one of the easier clubs to draw at this stage of the competition but they overwhelmed their opponents early on, Danjuma's goal coming after some fine work from Giovani Lo Celso, who excelled throughout.

The hosts then had a second goal disallowed and rattled Manuel Neuer's post before Bayern even looked like threatening their opponents. The Bayern and Germany keeper had a lucky escape after the break when he gifted Gerard Moreno the ball on the halfway line, only to see the Spaniard curl his long-range effort wide. It was one of several narrow misses, while Bayern created only half-chances.

Danjuma, a Dutchman who was playing in England's second tier last year, is perhaps emblematic of a team full of players who have not quite made the grade elsewhere but found a new lease of life under Unai Emery, who has further enhanced his reputation as a European knockout specialist.

European specialist

Indeed, it was Emery who inflicted Bayern's previous away defeat in this competition when coaching Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. That a defense lead by Raul Albiol, two years older than Nagelsmann at 36, became the first to shut Bayern out in Europe since Liverpool in February 2019 was another feather in his cap.

Dajuma called his boss a "mastermind" and expressed frustration that his team won't head to Munich next week with more of an advantage: "His plan was good but even then, we didn't execute in the right way," he told BT Sport. "I'm still a bit frustrated with the chance I had and the feeling is still a bit dubious."

When such an assessment is shared by Thomas Müller, normally the Bavarians' top hype man, it's clear how fortunate Bayern can consider themselves. "We'll take this 1-0 with us. It could have been higher," the forward said. "We have to prepare for the second leg and fight back."

That much is clear, and it is still a touch difficult to back against Bayern in Munich next Tuesday, just ask Red Bull Salzburg. But after a stirring display from the Spanish side, it's far from unimaginable.