The last time? The last time was fresh enough in the memory that you hardly needed to be a historian to have it instantly spring to mind. Bayern Munich had been here before, and not so long ago. While the last time had represented a more profound nadir and, conversely, the beginning of a journey to an improbable high, neither extreme felt likely here. This was neither the end of one thing nor the start of something else.
As with much of the Thomas Tuchel era (can it only be nine months on Christmas Eve?), even attempting to decipher it all feels like a fool’s errand. Four years ago Bayern had also received a dizzying pounding at Eintracht Frankfurt, by exactly the same score. 5-1. That had lasting consequences, firstly marking the end of the Niko Kovac era and then ushering in Hansi Flick’s. From humiliation on free-to-air to TV – the game had been one of the handful a season opened up outside subscriptions – to sealing the treble in Lisbon. A nine-month whirlwind that made Tuchel’s tenure to date feel like a Sunday afternoon stroll.
