Bayern Munich ease past much-changed Tottenham as Jose Mourinho’s fringe players fail to impress

Bayern Munich 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur: Mourinho gave some fresh faces a chance to impress, but they mainly floundered in the Allianz Arena

Bayern Munich beat Tottenham (Getty)

This was not good for Tottenham, but it could have been exponentially worse as recent history humbly taught them. Bayern Munich’s 3-1 Champions League victory meant nothing in the grand scheme of the competition, but it was a reminder that Jose Mourinho’s task to turn this band of almost men into a winning machine requires an overflow of elbow grease.

The Spurs manager banished the ghosts of the reverse fixture past, “forbidding any image” of the 7-2 defeat by the Bundesliga champions to be filtered to the players, even during opposition analysis sessions.

Seventy one days after Tottenham conceded seven goals at home for the only time in their 137-year history, there was no Niko Kovac nor Mauricio Pochettino in either dugout to offer a reminder of football’s ever-changing landscape.

The former’s sacking at the Bundesliga champions prompted strong links to Mourinho, who had been out of work for 11 months and whose camp happily fed information about his German lessons and the honour of having the opportunity to guide such an esteemed club.

The 56-year-old was never of concrete consideration for the vacancy with chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge averse to his reactive style of football and recently retired president Uli Hoeness expressing reservations about his character.

Bayern distanced themselves from interest in Mourinho, much like Arsenal had done too, but the threat that he may not be on the market for long prompted Spurs boss Daniel Levy to pull the trigger on Pochettino’s tenure and place the Portuguese in charge.

The German giants, still without a permanent solution at the helm, had given serious thought to hiring the axed Tottenham manager, much like Arsenal have done too.

But while so much has shifted since the last time these teams lined up against each other, there was familiarity too.

Bayern have conceded 16 goals in all competitions since that 7-2 mauling, with Spurs matching the leaking total during that period.

And on Wednesday night’s evidence, both rearguards remain entertaining but not very effective with Mourinho especially having his work cut out for him.

With both teams having already secured passage to the knockout rounds, the tussle between the Bundesliga’s seventh-placed side and the Premier League’s seventh-placed side turned out to be an opportunity to give their main men a breather and for firsts: Ryan Sessegnon’s full debut for Tottenham, as well as Giovani Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen’s introductory run-out from the off under Mourinho.

The 19-year-old marked his big moment on the big stage with a touch and – bang – Lo Celso had spun on the edge of his area, with his pass deflected into Sessegnon’s path. The teenager took a touch and struck a robust half-volley past Manuel Neuer, to level the score after Kingsley Coman’s opener.

It was a rare moment for the travelling support to applaud with Bayern monopolising the ball and using the match as an attacking training session against Spurs goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga: Philippe Coutinho had more shots on target than Tottenham managed as a whole.

The former Liverpool playmaker conjured Bayern’s third of the evening in trademark fashion, coming in from the left to the edge of the box and curling his effort into the far corner.

Coman’s cool side-footed finish on 14 minutes and a successful rebound conversion from Thomas Muller, who replaced the injured scorer of the opener, saw Bayern ensure their first-half dominance translated on the scoreboard.

After the interval, it was all Bayern. Again, and again. Tottenham’s players may have been spared footage of their humiliation at the hands of Bayern, but they will have feared it for large swathes at the Allianz Arena.

There could be no debate on the stratospheric difference in quality on the night and the only wonder at the final whistle was whether Mourinho knows the German word for outplayed yet.