Bayern Munich have played 37 matches across all competitions this season, and they've lost three -- all by one goal, all on the road. They're favorites to win the Bundesliga for the 11th straight season. They've won all eight matches they've played in the Champions League so far, including a pair of doubles over Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, runaway leaders in two of Europe's other five major leagues.
Bayern's big bet, then, seemed like it was paying off. In 2021, they gave €25 million to RB Leipzig so 33-year-old manager Julian Nagelsmann could break his contract and come to Bavaria. Ever since Pep Guardiola left Germany in 2015, the club had been not-so-quietly looking for another tactically innovative coach who would bring Bayern back to where they were with Pep: redefining how the game might be played. By locking up the never-afraid-to-experiment Nagelsmann on a five-year deal worth around €40 million, it seemed like they'd found him.
You know ... or not. On Friday, Bayern shocked the world by cutting ties with Nagelsmann and almost immediately replacing him with Thomas Tuchel.
As my colleague Gabriel Marcotti outlined over the weekend, the decision seems like it was driven by a combination of factors that extended well beyond just results. Ahead of this weekend's Der Klassiker with league ledgers Borussia Dortmund (live on ESPN+), let's take a look at the numbers -- and see if we can figure out what the heck just happened.
