After a successful first leg away at the Santiago Bernabéu, Bayern Munich hosted Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena for the second leg of the 2025/2026 edition of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

The Bavarians won 4-3 (6-4 on aggregate) in a dramatic contest which saw an early mistake from Manuel Neuer kickstart the scoring, as Madrid led 3-2 at half-time.

The second half saw Vincent Kompany tactics in full control as Bayern Munich style of play grabbed two late goals to seal their semi-final spot in style.

In this tactical analysis, we aim to highlight how both halves played out from Bayern Munich’s perspective, as well as their strengths and areas of struggle.

Bayern Munich Vs Real Madrid Lineups & Formations

Let us look at how Vincent Kompany and Álvaro Arbeloa fielded their squads.

The hosts, Bayern, played in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Skipper Manuel Neuer started in goal.

The back four were Josip Stanišić (right-back), Dayot Upamecano (right centre-back), Jonathan Tah (left centre-back), and Konrad Laimer (left-back).

Stanišić was replaced by Alphonso Davies in the 46th minute.

Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović played as the double pivot.

Michael Olise (right) and Luis Díaz (left) played as the wingers; Serge Gnabry operated as the attacking midfielder right behind striker Harry Kane.

Jamal Musiala came on for Gnabry at the 61st minute.

The visitors played in a 4-3-3 formation.

Andriy Lunin started between the sticks, behind a back four of Trent Alexander-Arnold (right-back), Éder Militão (right centre-back), Antonio Rüdiger (left centre-back), and Ferland Mendy (left-back).

Thiago Pitarch replaced Alexander-Arnold in the 90th minute.

Skipper Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, and Arda Güler were the midfield three.

The latter was replaced by Franco Mastantuono (90’).

Brahim Díaz (right) and Vinicius Júnior (left) were the wingers.

The former was replaced by Eduardo Camavinga (62’).

Kylian Mbappé played as the striker.

Bayern Munich Weaknesses

The game started with Neuer’s unforced error: the German misplaced a pass in the defensive third, attempting to play it wide when pressed on his stronger side.

Arda Güler took no time to find the back of the net upon intercepting the pass.

A simple solution could have been to find Kimmich, who had enough time and separation to find the wide pass.

In this scenario, playing it long is always acceptable, which is what he attempted to do for the next few minutes after this error.

An open transitional game is the best-case scenario for a side like Real Madrid; the first half had more of these moments.

A key reason for this was getting easy access to the space behind Bayern’s pressure.

Bayern pressed with numbers; however, during the first half, Madrid were clever not to force short passes in build-up.

They targeted runners to receive chipped passes behind the first wave of pressure, which usually comprised about five players.

By progressing in this manner, they were quick to make final-third entries; most of their progressions came either from fast breakaways or from direct play in build-up.