RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesBayern Munich's players celebrate with the winning trophy at the end of the football match against Aston Villa at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on August 7, 2026. (Photo by May JAMES / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Die Folgen: Bayern’s 2-1 friendly win over Aston Villa (Bavarian Football Works)
Bayern Munich finished up its tour of Asia with a match against Aston Villa, which represented a real challenge — especially considering the mental grind that these tours can be for the players and coaching staff.
The Bavarians did not look like they suffered from any doldrums, though, as Vincent Kompany unleashed an aggressive press and an up-tempo style that kept the Villans on their heels for stretches of the match. Ultimately, Bayern Munich pulled out a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa and gutted out a very fast and physical match.
Let’s dig into it, here are some quick hitters on the match:
As always, let’s begin with a look at Kompany’s unconventional starting XI:
👉 Unsere Startelf gegen Aston Villa steht! 🔴 🎥 Ab 13:55 Uhr könnt ihr hier live dabei sein: https://t.co/VAlEYuXqbI #AudiFCBTour pic.twitter.com/3godzlGVVG
— FC Bayern München (@FCBayern) August 7, 2026
If you did not watch the match, it was…interesting. Konrad Laimer was the striker, which was unexpected. More than that, though, Bayern Munich played like a bat out of hell. Everything was hard and aggressive. It was impressive to watch the level of energy exerted. Eventually, the boys wore down, but it took 75 minutes or so.
Tim Binder is an interesting youngster. He was not always great vs. Aston Villa, but plays with a purpose and with urgency, which will bode well for him in the coming years. Binder has dazzling footwork and a great burst, but he is almost trying a little too hard and does lose the ball a lot right now. All that said, he will get better and just needs to continue to keep that mindset.
It was tough to distinguish if it was the broadcast sound or if the Hong Kong crowd would just intermittently get loud. As it turns out, the FCBayern TV broadcast has some big issues.
Bayern Munich had some good opportunities in the first half with Arijon Ibrahimović and Aleksandar Pavlović just unable to convert.
It was a very choppy and sometimes frantic game. Bayern Munich was pressing incredibly hard. Maycon Cardozo, Binder, and Ibrahimović seem to have endless energy.
Offensively, though, it was tough for the kids to get on track.
In the 37th minute, Bayern Munich broke through, Tom Bischof whipped in a perfect diagonal ball off of a free kick and Kim Min-jae deftly flicked it in for the 1-0 lead.
Bischof was — once again — the best player on the field for the Bavarians. The youngster looks extremely motivated and is flashing all of the skill and tenacity that we saw from him at Hoffenheim.
Luis Díaz joined João Palhinha in the dyed hair brigade. Díaz did not go as subtle as Palhinha as he sported a platinum look. Who did the platinum better — Díaz or Robert Lewandowski?
Dutch goalkeeper Marco Bizot saved this game from being a complete blowout. He had a few great stops against Bayern Munich.
In the 66th minute, Josip Stanišić and Ibrahimović both had great chances turned away. In the 74th minute, Díaz took a phenomenal cross-field pass from Ibrahimović and ripped a shot that hit the crossbar and dipped back down over the goal line. Diaz right back in midseason form,
João Gomes pulled one back for Aston Villa inthe 83rd minute with a nice goal.
In the 84th minute, Manuel Neuer made a spectacular save to keep the lead. Wow…that was a vintage Neuer stop on a close-range header with some force.
Overall, Bayern Munich did what it needed to do. Kompany seems to be very confident in his young players and he has trusted them with big responsibility during this preseason. That has allowed the coaching staff to ease the veterans into the preseason and even rest a guy like Joshua Kimmich, who is still feeling the effects of an injury sustained during the World Cup.
If you missed out Initial Analysis , Match Awards , or Observations , give them a look:
PSG still talking to Ajax on Godts (Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano)
Paris Saint-Germain is still working with Ajax on a deal for Mika Godts:
🚨🔴🔵 Paris Saint-Germain remain in club to club active talks for Mika Godts with new proposal ready.
Understand PSG are set to offer €45m fixed fee plus add-ons for package in excess of €50m.
Talks continue with Ajax. Godts said yes to PSG.
🎥➕ https://youtu.be/Xt07HPqRfjI
Bayern denies contract with Rodri (Sport Bild’s Christian Falk)
Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk says that Bayern Munich did not actually kick the tires on a move for Rodri despite reports to the contrary:
❌ It is NOT TRUE: Bayern Munich made contact with Rodri earlier in the summer transfer window. I was in talks with the Bayern bosses and they said no – there were no negotiations. They didn’t knock on the door of Rodri’s camp. He’s a very interesting player, but they don’t need him in the position. He’s also still very expensive, by the way, with Manchester City looking for €75m [£64.2m].
At the moment, Real Madrid are bidding at about €60m [£51.4m]. I think a return to the Spanish top-flight is the likely route Rodri will take. Of course, there was interest from Bayern previously – but it was a long time ago in 2019. However, there was no money left to get him, and FC Bayern instead moved for Lucas Hernández. There were secret meetings with Atletico Madrid (at the time of Bayern’s interest in Rodri). So, it’s very hard for Bayern that they passed up on this big transfer at the time. However, it’s simply not possible for them to engage with this summer.
David Ornstein of The Athletic is reporting that FC Barcelona’s bid for Rodri is well short of what Manchester City is expecting for its prized midfielder:
🚨 Barcelona offer Manchester City ~€45m + add-ons to sign Rodri. #MCFC regard as nowhere near level needed to n...
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