Marked for Maycon Cardozo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Busquets
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bayern Munich lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Harry Kane was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch10 May 2027
15 shut-outs in 33 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Daniel Peretz has been having a lot of them.
Market10 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Niklas Schmidt is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 May 2027
Dayot Upamecano has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad10 May 2027
Maycon Cardozo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market10 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bayern Munich know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes Kim Min-Jae a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bayern Munich. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Apr 2027
28 matches without defeat, and then RB Leipzig. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad12 Apr 2027
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bayern Munich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Jamal Musiala is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.52 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bayern Munich may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Harry Kane and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Bayern Munich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dayot Upamecano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Manuel Neuer
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
A promise honoured for Rafael Leão
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bayern Munich told Rafael Leão something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match13 Feb 2027
3‑0, and Rafael Leão took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Bayern Munich tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match13 Feb 2027
Another one collected away from home
9 on the bounce on the road for Bayern Munich. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match13 Feb 2027
Nobody wants to play Bayern Munich right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Jamal Musiala
16 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Harry Kane and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maycon Cardozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Luis Díaz at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bayern Munich.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Nov 2026
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match21 Nov 2026
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ismael Saibari decided nobody was going anywhere. Mainz 05 had no time left to answer.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.70 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Harry Kane and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Bayern Munich. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match21 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Bayern Munich
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bayern Munich may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.16, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Michael Olise and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Bayern Munich right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Harry Kane. 2‑0 against VfL Wolfsburg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Serge Gnabry at his very best
Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Bayern Munich.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Harry Kane and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.