Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich Face Uphill Battle After Atletico Madrid Defeat

Bayern Munich slumped to a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final with Atletico Madrid.

The result still leaves the German giants with a decent chance of progressing to the final. However, the defeat was a familiar one, and in light of recent history, it may be unnerving for Bayern.

In 2014, towards the end of Pep Guardiola’s first season as Bayern head coach, they lost the first leg of the semi-final 1-0 to Real Madrid. The next year, they also lost the first leg away from home, 3-0 to Barcelona. And on Wednesday, they again lost the first leg to a Spanish side, once more failing to score an away goal.

For Guardiola, it was a fourth consecutive first-leg away defeat at the semi-final stage without having scored an away goal: In his last season at Barcelona, his side lost 1-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In none of the previous three ties has the Spaniard led his team to the final.

4 — Pep has lost 4 Consecutive Champions League Semi Final away games in his last 4 Seasons.Chelsea 1-0Madrid 1-0Barça 3-0Atleti 1-0

— The Pep (@GuardiolaTweets) April 27, 2016

However ominous the result may seem, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Bayern. 

Wednesday’s tie was a game of two halves. Atleti were far and away the better side before the interval. They never allowed Bayern to settle early, and although it came from a bit of individual brilliance, they deserved their opener from Saul Niguez on 11 minutes.

Until the break, they had Bayern well under control despite not having much of …

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