Coman spares Bayern blushes

French winger Kingsley Coman spared his side's blushes with a late equalizer as Bayern Munich labored to a 1-1 draw away to Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday.

Coman prodded the ball in at the far post in the last minute of normal time to cancel out Junior Adamu's first-half opener and save Bayern from a first away defeat in the competition since 2017.

"Someone who isn't a Bayern fan might say Salzburg deserved it today, but I think it was a fair result," Bayern's stand-in captain Thomas Mueller told DAZN after his side battled its way back into the tie in the second half.

"I think it was clear in the second half that we really wanted to win this game. We are not in the right flow at the moment, and we need to bring that winning mentality to every game," said teammate Joshua Kimmich.

Bayern arrived in Austria looking to bounce back from its shock defeat to Bundesliga minnow Bochum on Saturday, but there were early signs of the same defensive wobbles which had plagued them at the weekend.

A mistake from Niklas Suele opened up a chance for Brenden Aaronson after just a few minutes, as Salzburg snapped at the heels of the Bayern back line.

The visitor also had chances, but continued to look vulnerable and Salzburg deserved its lead on 21 minutes.

A soaring long ball from Mohamed Camara opened up Bayern on the counterattack, and Adamu curled the ball in with an elegant first-time finish.

Adamu was an early substitute for the injured Noah Okafor, and he and his fellow forwards continued to unsettle the Bayern defense before the break.

The host had a penalty appeal waved away just before halftime, before sitting back and soaking up pressure in the second period.

But despite dominating possession and running Salzburg's fullbacks ragged, Bayern toiled in its search for an equalizer.

As the pressure mounted toward the end of the game, Salzburg goalkeeper Philipp Koehn denied Coman with a reflex save and neutralized a sharp counterattack by snatching the ball from the feet of Leroy Sane.

A mistake from Sane almost allowed Salzburg to kill the game off 10 minutes from time, but Benjamin Pavard denied Adamu his second goal with a desperate block on the line.

Bayern's patience paid off when Coman finally broke the Austrian defenses as the clock ticked down toward injury time.

A floating cross from Pavard was flicked on by Mueller to Coman, who slotted past Koehn to avoid a second shock defeat for Bayern in the space of five days following last weekend's 4-2 defeat at lowly Bochum.

"It feels a bit like a defeat when you concede such a late goal, but 1-1 is a good result," said Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi. "We are young, hungry and full of energy and we want to irritate Bayern," he added with an eye on the second leg in Munich on March 8.

AFP