Turning point for Bayern?

The winds of change blow strong and often at FC Bayern Munich: earlier this week, after Bayern lost 1-0 to FC Basel in the Champions League, the buzzword around Munich was 'crisis.' A loss to a perceived underdog in the Champions League, coming on the heels of a scoreless draw to the Bundesliga's last-place team Freiburg, was too much for the ambitious Bayern crowd to bear.

'What's to be done?' was the question making the rounds. Coach Jupp Heynckes made a public appeal to the team to put the team first to beat Schalke; Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber had reportedly argued over whose fault it was that Basel was able to score late in Wednesday night's game.

"We've got to find a way to get united, as quickly as possible," said Heynckes in an interview ahead of Sunday's match. "Team work is the most important, personal interests of individual players must take a back seat."

A change of attitude

The seriousness of the situation seemed to have an effect on Bayern as they easily dominated Schalke 2-0 on two goals from midfielder Franck Ribery.

After the game, players who had angrily pointed fingers at each other on Wednesday slapped hands and congratulated each other, but can a crisis that was apparently such a concern at Bayern only yesterday simply be forgotten?

Can Jupp Heynckes, who would have likely been dusting off his resume for an imminent job search had Bayern lost to Schalke, declare his team is out of the woods?

Not exactly.

The unthinkable

The big fear at Bayern is a second consecutive season without any hardware - an unthinkable scenario at Germany's most successful club. Given the way Basel has played so far in this Champions League season, besting Manchester United in the group stage and preventing them from advancing, Bayern will have their work cut out for them in the second leg of the round of 16.

Even with the home advantage, if Bayern lets Basel score one goal, they'll have to win by at least two to advance. A draw also lets Basel advance to the next round.

In the Bundesliga, the picture is looking a little brighter. The win moved Bayern ahead of Schalke in the table, landing them in second place, four points behind Borussia Dortmund, who maintained a comfortable lead with a 3-1 win over Hanover. They also moved away from Borussia Mönchengladbach, who dropped two points in a draw against Hamburg on Friday night. Bayern's hopes are still alive in the German Cup, too.

So while Sunday's win was a step in the right direction, Bayern shouldn't pat themselves on the back just yet. Schalke played 120 minutes of soccer against Czech side Viktoria Pilzen on Thursday night, and one has to wonder how Bayern would have played against a fresh opponent of Schalke's caliber.

Clouds parting

For the time being, the sun has poked through at Bayern, shining particularly brightly on Franck Ribery on Sunday. Despite headlines on Monday morning that will surely speak of Bayern's win resolving the crisis, Heynckes is a little more pragmatic.

"This set the whole team in the right direction," he said after the match Sunday. "We have great players here, but they have to harmonize. The cogs have to fit properly together. We have to be ready to get down and dirty, and everyone did that today. This is the way we need to be headed."

Keeper Manuel Neuer thinks this could be the point where the team turns things around.

"We've always said we need a break-out game, and maybe this was the starting point," he said.

The clouds hovering over Munich may part in the coming weeks thanks to Sunday's solid effort against Schalke, but it will take more than one win to make sure this isn't simply the eye of the hurricane.

Author: Matt Zuvela
Editor: Nicole Goebel