Exit FC Bayern, pursued by hubris
The Champions League will proceed this year without FC Bayern Munich, last year's winners. In fact, the 2-1 loss last night against Deportivo La Coruña heralds Bayern's first ever exit from the Champions League's first round phase following five quarter-final appearances. But the competition will be better without Bayern as the team has veered between arrogance and apathy in its recent appearances and has long absented itself from original football.
Bayern arrived in La Coruña last night with just one point from four games. They had to win to have any chance of regaining the trophy they won last year, but without totemic keeper Oliver Kahn (injured thigh) it never looked as if the Munich side were going to take the three points. One would expect a team playing for its Champions League life to fight for every ball, but there were stages of the game where Bayern appeared incapable of summoning anything resembling passion. Such is the state of a team that's come to believe fawning press reports of its invincibility.
On the downside, there'll be no more Champions League evenings in the local bar with free rounds of drink for every Bayern goal. Progress has its price.
