Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann has heaped praise on defender Matthijs de Ligt, who he believes โrescuedโ his side to help the Germans qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Bayern won 2-0 on the night to advance 3-0 on aggregate, but the match was in the balance in the first half when De Ligt blocked Vitinhaโs shot and Yann Sommer was caught dribbling in his own penalty area.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry scored in the second half to earn Bayern a spot in the quarterfinals.
Instead of praising Sommerโs risk-taking, Nagelsmann lauded De Ligtโs intervention, which altered the course of the game.
โYann obviously has a good connection with Matthijs,โ Nagelsmann quipped. โNine out of 10 defenders in the world would have left that because they thought it was already in.โ
โIt was an unbelievable play. He (De Ligt) loves to defend and hates to concede goals,โ Nagelsmann added.
โMistakes happen, but thankfully we have a defender who rescued us.โ
Sommer, who arrived in Munich from Borussia Moenchengladbach in January to replace the injured Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, said: โIt was outstanding how he rescued me.
โIf that went wrong then the game would look different, so we were lucky.โ
The Switzerland goalkeeper joked that he had a special reward in mind for De Ligt.
โIโve told him before once or twice that thereโll be a block of Swiss chocolate sitting on his doorstep for his efforts,โ he said.
Photo by EPA/RONALD WITTEK