On Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 Kingsley Coman scored a dramatic and crucially important late goal in order to rescue Bayern Munich sending the match to a 1 to 1 draw at Salzburg in the 1st – leg of their Champions League round of 16 game.
Coman, who scored Bayern Munich’s winner during the 2020 finals, scored an equalizing goal just in the nick of time during last minute of the match in order to prevent the Bavarian powerhouse club from slumping down to their 2nd – consecutive loss following their 4 to 2 defeat to promoted Bochum in the German Bundesliga League on last Saturday, February 12th, 2022.
Bayern Munich, which had to come from behind to end up easily winning 6 to 2 on their last trip to play Salzburg during the group stage last season, was forced to come from behind once again following Junior Chukwubuike Adamu’s opening goal score during the 21st – minute of the game for the Austrian champs.
During Wednesday night’s other Champions League game, Liverpool defeated Inter Milan with a final tally of 2 to 0 in Italy in order to take a comfortable lead back to their home field of the historic Anfield Stadium for the second leg of this match – up.
Salzburg just so happened to be playing in the Champions League knockout phase for the 1st – time, and the home team of Salzburg displayed nor demonstrated any signs of intimidation or fear versus the 6 – time European champions of Bayern Munich.
The only reason that Adamu was playing was due to the fact that Noah Okafor suffered an injury as he went off of the pitch during the 12th – minute of game action on Wednesday. The young and aggressive 20 – year – old, Adamu, evaded Niklas Süle as he was then able to curl a nasty shot inside the right post following a long ball kicked from Mohamed Camara which found Karim Adeyemi on the right wing.
Adeyemi who has been identified as a transfer target for Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga rival in Borussia Dortmund, blew past Lucas Hernández before the American midfielder Brenden Aaronson assisted the ball on over to Adamu, who ultimately swept it in for the other goal score of this match.
Sven Ulreich, who was Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper for the injured Manuel Neuer, did well to save a healthy shot from Brenden Aaronson just minutes later in the contest.
Salzburg had a penalty appeal just prior to the break, after Benjamin Pavard’s attempted to clear the ball but he happened to catch Adeyemi on the play. A VAR check determined to rule in favor of the Bayern Munich defender though.
Bayern Munich pushed hard after the half time break by pegging the home side players back as well as constraining their counter attack chances.
Coman drew a great save from Philipp Köhn during the 73rd – minute of action, and the Salzburg goalkeeper did an even better job in order to deny Leroy Sané as well as gathering up the loose rebound in front of the Bayern Munich forward just several minutes later.
Pavard came up with a crucial and timely block in order to deny Adamu a 2nd – goal score during the 81st – minute, and the home fans of Salzburg were left to rue to the missed opportunity when Coman was able to beat Köhn by the near post so that he could fire in the equalizing goal from Pavard’s optimistic cross – kick that Thomas Müller helped to push it along.
Bayern Munich hosts Salzburg for the 2nd – leg of this Champions League match up on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022.
Media Statements
“It wasn’t enough in the first half. Salzburg came up with dangerous counterattacks. We controlled it better in the second half,” Bayern Munich’s midfielder Joshua Kimmich explained. “The team realized we wanted to win the game. That we can is not in question. We have to bring that on the field in every game. We’re not in a flow where everything just happens.”
“In the end it feels like a defeat. But 1 – 1 is something to be proud of,” Karim Adeyemi stated. “We’re ready for the next game.”
Sources:
The Associated Press News Services. “Coman rescues 1 – 1 draw for Bayern Munich at Salzburg in CL”. The Associated Press. February 16, 2022.