About a year ago, Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen ended in a 2-2 draw-a result apart from being the best match of the 23/24 Bundesliga season, it basically sealed Bayer's championship ambitions.

Today's draw is almost perfectly symmetrical. Bayern was as dominant over Bayer as Bayer was over Bayern in the spring meeting that ended 3-0 for Bayer. But this time, Bayern's dominance was expressed in different ways. Not a correct clash of a cohesive team versus a disjoined one like previously; more like a boxing match between weight classes, each perfect in its class.

Great defense by Bayer. One could have almost wondered if they were this good in defense. Meanwhile, Bayer managed an accumulated total of just one completed action in Bayern's half all game, and it was a very well-designed set piece.

In other stats:

0.11 xG

1 shot from inside the box

1 penetration within 20 meters of Bayern's goal

5 touches in the opponent's penalty area

12 percent of actions in the opponent's third

Bayer have never been so weak in attack under Xabi Alonso.

It is, of course, pertinent to mention something so regular, which we often miss in the chorus of laudation for Bayer. Their German miracle march took place well, at a time when Bayern were demonstrably struggling. How much they were struggling, was something one could only tell today, when this is the Bayern.

I have never joined in any demonstration, but I feel like a street orator. Of course, I was hesitant about Kompany's appointment; it seemed like nonsense to me. Well, I repeat again what people did before universal suffrage: I am a fool and the boss knows what he's doing.

It's obvious that Bayern selected Kompany first and foremost, after two neurotic coaches-as different types of neurotics-after his ability to maintain balance and mental health. You see Kompany springing around the technical area and you think he must have been born here-not in some hospital-to be a leader.

This time, it seems Bayern's bosses dug deep and far deeper than just the coach's ability to maintain and develop the 3-2-5 structure with the ball. Assuming they categorized Kompany's dominant qualities, they would have taken into consideration the fact that his father was the first black mayor in Belgian history.

Lineage like that doesn't just disappear. There's a word in Italian which gauges this kind of man: campione. It's a universal word, not an exclusively sporting one-it refers to the quality of the human material. A campione doesn't burn others with ambition or play with human passions. Stars don't shine above a campione; they dance around him.

Bayern's attack now is a dance of unrivaled beauty, and in the middle of all this is Jamal Musiala. With the rise of Musiala, and the emergence of Michael Olise, Bayern have maybe transformed into the most beautiful team in the world-if beauty is to be understood as its classical ideal.

That's where the most fantastic beauty in football often resides: in people who, to the conventional mind, would not be considered beautiful-Maradona, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta-dancing stools, Musiala and Olise, in their own particular way, come off as ballet dancers.

About a year ago, Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen ended in a 2-2 draw-a result apart from being the best match of the 23/24 Bundesliga season, it basically sealed Bayer's championship ambitions.

Today's draw is almost perfectly symmetrical. Bayern was as dominant over Bayer as Bayer was over Bayern in the spring meeting that ended 3-0 for Bayer. But this time, Bayern's dominance was expressed in different ways. Not a correct clash of a cohesive team versus a disjoined one like previously; more like a boxing match between weight classes, each perfect in its class.

Great defense by Bayer. One could have almost wondered if they were this good in defense. Meanwhile, Bayer managed an accumulated total of just one completed action in Bayern's half all game, and it was a very well-designed set piece.

In other stats:

0.11 xG

1 shot from inside the box

1 penetration within 20 meters of Bayern's goal

5 touches in the opponent's penalty area

12 percent of actions in the opponent's third

Bayer have never been so weak in attack under Xabi Alonso.

It is, of course, pertinent to mention something so regular, which we often miss in the chorus of laudation for Bayer. Their German miracle march took place well, at a time when Bayern were demonstrably struggling. How much they were struggling, was something one could only tell today, when this is the Bayern.

I have never joined in any demonstration, but I feel like a street orator. Of course, I was hesitant about Kompany's appointment; it seemed like nonsense to me. Well, I repeat again what people did before universal suffrage: I am a fool and the boss knows what he's doing.

It's obvious that Bayern selected Kompany first and foremost, after two neurotic coaches-as different types of neurotics-after his ability to maintain balance and mental health. You see Kompany springing around the technical area and you think he must have been born here-not in some hospital-to be a leader.

This time, it seems Bayern's bosses dug deep and far deeper than just the coach's ability to maintain and develop the 3-2-5 structure with the ball. Assuming they categorized Kompany's dominant qualities, they would have taken into consideration the fact that his father was the first black mayor in Belgian history.

Lineage like that doesn't just disappear. There's a word in Italian which gauges this kind of man: campione. It's a universal word, not an exclusively sporting one-it refers to the quality of the human material. A campione doesn't burn others with ambition or play with human passions. Stars don't shine above a campione; they dance around him.

Bayern's attack now is a dance of unrivaled beauty, and in the middle of all this is Jamal Musiala. With the rise of Musiala, and the emergence of Michael Olise, Bayern have maybe transformed into the most beautiful team in the world-if beauty is to be understood as its classical ideal.

That's where the most fantastic beauty in football often resides: in people who, to the conventional mind, would not be considered beautiful-Maradona, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta-dancing stools, Musiala and Olise, in their own particular way, come off as ballet dancers.