Everyone from Munich was content as night descended on a bitterly cold Salzburg. In addition to FC Bayern’s nearly flawless 5-0 victory over Europa League team FC Red Bull Salzburg prior to the brief winter break, board member for sport Max Eberl stated during halftime that “the most important thing is that everyone’s stayed fit and healthy.” And that’s also how it ended: the crew enjoyed the hour-and-a-half bus travel back along the A8 heading northwest to Säbenerň without suffering any injuries. Head coach Vincent Kompany said, “We are very motivated for what we want to achieve in 2026.”

Lacking several important players
Initially, it didn’t appear to be such a decisive triumph for Bayern in what is now practically a standard winter friendly in Salzburg. The German record champions first had trouble finding their groove after a 14-day holiday, Christmas, and New Year’s. Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, and Jamal Musiala were obviously absent, as were returnees Alphonso Davies and Sacha Boey. Nicolas Jackson is playing for Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals against Mali on Friday. Kompany promised, “None of the guys will be out long-term.” “It’s unfortunate that Phonzy is sick today,” Eberl continued. Even though Jamal felt that it was too soon, we are glad that they are both back. We are pleased that they will now accumulate their minutes so that we have them in the crucial months of March, April, and May.

Lennart Karl’s teammates applaud him after FC Bayern defeated Red Bull Salzburg 4-0 in the friendly.
One assist, two goals: Bayern’s standout player in Salzburg was Lennart Karl. | © FC Bayern Kompany nevertheless fielded a formidable squad that included three young players in the starting lineup. Knowledge David Santos, 18, was assigned to secure the midfield, Mike, 17, began on the left wing, and Cassiano Kiala, 16, teamed Dayot Upamecano in the center of defense.

After the initial exchanges, that was only partially successful. Despite having much less possession, Salzburg had a number of respectable chances to take the lead between the 30th and 40th minutes, but they were either denied by Santos Daiber clearing off the line or the outstanding Jonas Urbig in goal (the 22-year-old also excelled with his positional play).

The tone is established by the wingers
Bayern’s wingers—the cool and deadly Michael Olise on one side and the energetic, two-footed, and driven Mike on the other—set the tone for the team. However, the goal was scored by someone quite different: Salzburg’s goalkeeper was helpless against Hiroki Ito’s deflected first-time strike from the edge of the area, 1-0 to FC Bayern, following an excellent save by Austria’s Alexander Schlager from Harry Kane’s blatant attempt on the spin. A goal that was extremely beneficial to the Japanese, who had been sidelined for a long time due to a metatarsal fracture.

At this time, the advantage was somewhat flattering based on opportunities, but it wasn’t unwarranted based on possession. Eberl acknowledged, “We had the bit of luck.”

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Gallery Dress rehearsal went well; Bayern defeated Salzburg in a friendly

At halftime, both coaches switched out their whole teams in bitterly cold minus eight degrees. After Kane was replaced as captain by Jonathan Tah, Bayern grew more formidable. Once more, Bayern’s inventiveness, goal danger, and pressure primarily came from the flanks. It appeared as though Luis Díaz’s only wish for Father Christmas was to be able to play football with this fantastic side once more. Maybe everything just keeps going as in a football dream, according to Lennart Karl. And both were achieved: “Lucho” outwitted opponents and produced opportunity after opportunity, including goal after goal. Karl set up another goal and scored twice. Strangely, Karl, who is 168 centimeters tall, headed in from Díaz’s cross for his second goal, which put the score at 4-0.

Opportunities flow
Bayern was now far superior and at the top of every category. Salzburg found it difficult to engage the Munich guys in duels and could no longer close the gaps. At the nearly full Red Bull Arena, which had 29,090 fans, it was all FCB. Karl (71′, 87′), academy prodigy Felipe Chávez (75′), and Tom Bischof (90′,+2) from more Díaz wizardry made it a very nice score, and the visitors were now almost producing opportunities every five minutes.

The hosts enjoyed an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal after the first forty-five minutes, but Bayern dominated this statistic at the end with a commanding 12-3 lead. Kerim Alajbegovic’s straight free kick, which struck the crossbar, was Salzburg’s best opportunity.

Felipe Chavez was thrilled with his 3:0 in FC Bayern’s friendly against Red Bull Salzburg.
Youngster In Salzburg, Felipe Chávez had the opportunity to celebrate his first FC Bayern goal. | © FC Bayern
The young players Kompany gave significant first-team minutes to won the final stages. “That’s how to start the new year,” Jonas Urbig said afterward. “We kept a clean sheet, scored a lot of goals, and stood firm, which is important for both the attack and the defense.” “I’m very optimistic about that, but it’s important that we build up the momentum again in training to get to the level we were at before the winter break.”

Instead of disruption, momentum
Bayern doesn’t appear to have lost their momentum despite the short winter break; quite the opposite. With confidence and excitement, the German record champions will now host VfL Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena on Sunday afternoon. Josip Stanišic said, “You’ll see on Sunday that everyone is firing again and can’t wait.” However, what mattered most on this Tuesday afternoon in Austria was that no one was hurt.

Before some challenging Bundesliga games against Wolfsburg and away to Düsseldorf and RB Leipzig, Kompany stated, “If the squad gets through this phase, we’ll be in a very strong position going into the part of the season where everything is decided.” “A lot is possible this season if we continue to want to actively score goals and actively defend as a team in the upcoming months, like we did in the first half of the season,” Eberl said.