It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Tottenham Hotspur’s bravery had carried them a long way last season, all the way to the Champions League final in fact. This season, though, everything formidable about them seemed to have dried up.
Mauricio Pochettino's side were 'not in a good moment'. Defeats to Newcastle and Leicester City in the Premier League had been totally deserved. They crashed out of the EFL Cup to Colchester. The pressure was on.
Ten-man Spurs edged past Southampton in a tricky league tie to close September and it seemed Pochettino had delivered under immense pressure. Up next were Bayern, who were unbeaten since losing the German Super Cup to Borussia Dortmund before the Bundesliga campaign kicked off.
Pochettino's side had made a disappointing start to the Champions League group stage, surrendering a two-goal lead in Greece to eventually draw 2-2 with Olympiacos. Bayern, on the other hand, thrashed Red Star Belgrade.
So Spurs and Bayern met on 1 October - what would be the hosts' lowest night in the brief history of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Things started completely against expectation. After Spurs kept knocking on the door early on, Son Heung-min put them 1-0 up. The blue and white half of north London shrieked with joy.
But Tottenham had barely got themselves back to their starting positions before the away side responded. Joshua Kimmich slammed the ball beyond the reach of Hugo Lloris and into the corner to equalise.
Spurs regrouped, recovered and threatened to take the lead again when Harry Kane and Tanguy Ndombele went close. On the stroke of half-time, Bayern appealed for a penalty, but it didn’t matter when Robert Lewandowski met the loose ball and fired precisely into the corner with a consummate finish.
When Bayern came out for the second half, everything they produced was irrepressible, irresistible and utterly destructive to both Spurs’ plans on the night and Pochettino’s job security long-term.
Serge Gnabry, wonderful solo goal, 3-1. Gnabry, in off the post, 4-1. In the blink of an eye it looked as though Spurs were already down and out. They needed some good news, and it arrived just minutes after Bayern’s fourth, when Harry Kane’s oh-so-precise penalty beat Manuel Neuer to cut the deficit to two.
The final ten minutes saw a deluge. Bayern turned on the style, just as Spurs were fading inexplicably. On 83 minutes, Gnabry was goal-side yet again, sprinting towards Hugo Lloris. A shot, a goal. 5-2. A hat-trick for the former Arsenal man. A blissful return to north London.
A dreadful misplaced pass from Toby Alderweireld found a Bayern man, and it made it's way to Lewandowski to make it six.
Each goal was a further dagger to the prospects of Pochettino remaining in his job.
Big teams have big bellies, and Bayern still had an appetite for more. Gnabry made a wonderful run, unseen by the entire Tottenham backline. Enough space for a shot? Just about. He smashed the ball past Lloris - 2-7.
That was it. Spurs’ heaviest ever defeat in European competition - they were quite literally the biggest losers that night.
Source : 90min