In London, Bayern leave the pitch as second best for the first time – which could also have its advantages.
It almost seemed a bit unusual how sober and serious the expressions of Bayern’s key figures were in London on Wednesday evening. In the past few months since the 2 0 against Paris at the Club World Cup, we had become so used to relaxed, satisfied Munich players talking about winning streaks, records and control that seeing them back in defeat explanation mode was almost strange.
There was no shouting, no drama, just a collective awareness that something important had shifted.
Down in the bowels of the Emirates Stadium, Jonathan Tah stood at the DAZN microphone and chose his words carefully. He spoke about small details, those tiny moments that decide top clashes between two elite sides. A mistimed press here, a lost duel there, a second ball not won on the edge of the box. Against most opponents, Bayern ride out those moments. Against a confident Arsenal in this kind of form, they pay for them. Tah did not talk about luck or referees. He talked about precision, concentration, distances between the lines. It was the analysis of a player who knows his team were close, but not close enough.
A few metres away, Serge Gnabry sent a slightly different message. The winger appealed for understanding, pointing out that you have to accept it when you lose sometimes. For a club like Bayern, that sentence almost sounds provocative. Losing is not part of the culture, it is usually treated as an exception, even a scandal. Yet Gnabry’s tone was calm. He seemed to be reminding everyone that this is still a new project under a new coach, with new automatisms, and that perfection from August to May is neither realistic nor necessarily healthy.
By the way, they lost deservedly, as Joshua Kimmich immediately underlined. The midfielder, who has become something like the conscience of the team, did not try to sugar coat the result. He acknowledged that Bayern had been second best in key phases, especially when Arsenal increased the tempo after the break. For Kimmich, the defeat was an extremely important game for us, as he put it. Not important in terms of points or standings, but in terms of learning. It exposed weaknesses that long winning runs sometimes hide. It showed where the structure still wobbles under maximum pressure.
And Vincent Kompany? He would most like to play against Arsenal again straight away. You could sense that in his body language and in every sentence he delivered after the match. This meticulous coach had prepared so intensely for the Premier League leaders that it hurt him personally to see the plan fall short. In his self image as an eternal winner, there simply has to be an opportunity to put this faux pas right. For him, defeat is not just a statistic, it is an unfinished task, an exam he wants to retake. Perhaps that opportunity will come, but not before the new year.
From Bayern’s perspective, there is another side to this first defeat. As long as a series continues, the narrative around a team becomes heavier. The talk of invincibility grows, and with it the pressure to protect zero in the loss column at all costs. Players start thinking about the run, about headlines, about comparisons with historic teams, instead of focusing purely on the next action, the next pass, the next duel. In that sense, losing in London might actually free Bayern a little.
The dressing room reaction suggested exactly that. There was frustration, but no panic. Several players stressed that this kind of setback, at this stage of the season, could be valuable. It offers concrete video material for the coaching staff, clear clips to show where the pressing line stepped out too late, where the midfield failed to support, where the defensive block dropped too deep. It gives Kompany the chance to sharpen his message. When he talks about intensity, compactness or bravery in possession, he no longer speaks in abstract terms. He can point at the Arsenal game and say: this is what happens when we fall even five percent below our standard.
Psychologically, the defeat may also help reset expectations inside the squad. Younger players who have only experienced the team in winning mode will now understand what is demanded when things go wrong. Senior players like Kimmich, Neuer or Müller know that every successful season contains one or two nights when nothing seems to click. The key is how you react in the next match. Do you become passive and fearful, or do you step onto the pitch with the intention of correcting the mistake immediately.
Kompany’s desire to face Arsenal again as soon as possible is rooted precisely in that mentality. He is not the kind of coach who looks for excuses. The better Arsenal look, the more it irritates him that Bayern could not match them over ninety minutes. At the same time, he will be aware that the team has already built a strong foundation in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League. One defeat in London does not dismantle months of good work. It simply redraws the map of where Bayern truly stand compared to the very best.
From the outside, this first loss may even lower the external noise a little. Talk of a flawless season, of Bayern cruising untouched through all competitions, is replaced by a more realistic narrative. Pundits and fans will debate the gaps that Arsenal exposed. Are Bayern vulnerable on transitions down the flanks. Do they lose control when the first line of build up is pressed aggressively. Is there enough creativity in midfield when the usual triangles are blocked. These questions might sting, but they also push the team to evolve.
Inside the club, there will also be reminders that the big trophies are not handed out in autumn. To reach the spring in the best possible condition, a team sometimes needs exactly this kind of sharp, painful correction. It underlines that intensity cannot be allowed to drop, even for ten or fifteen minutes. It shows that success has to be rebuilt in every game, not carried over from the last one.
So while the scenes at the Emirates were unfamiliar, with Bayern’s players analysing a defeat instead of celebrating another victory, there was a certain clarity in the air. No drama, no crisis talk, just the cold understanding that they had met an opponent at a very high level and fallen short. The real response will not come in front of the microphones in the mixed zone, but on the pitch in the coming weeks.
For Bayern, London may go down as the night the winning run ended, but also as the night a new phase began. The phase in which they learn how to react, adjust and grow from adversity under Vincent Kompany. If they get that part right, this first defeat could eventually be remembered not as the start of a decline, but as the moment that turned a strong team into a tougher, more complete one.
