Sports / Sat, 08 Aug 2026 Bavarian Football Works

Match Awards from Bayern Munich’s 2-1 friendly win over Aston Villa

HONG KONG, CHINA - AUGUST 07: Tom Bischof of FC Bayern Muenchen is being challenged during the Audi Football Summit 2026 match between FC Bayern München and Aston Villa at Kai Tak Stadium on August 07, 2026 in Hong Kong, China. Since then, a couple of seasons have gone by, and FC Bayern have progressed heavily as a team. Pavlović probably had the worst World Cup of any Bayern Munich player, which raised concerns about his spot in the lineup at club level. The Colombian was a level apart from the attackers Bayern Munich were fielding up to that point, hitting hard and fast and allowing very little reprieve. Meister of the Match: Tom BischofWith each passing preseason game, Tom Bischof looks more and more like a first XI player.

Bayern Munich continued their preseason campaign with their first proper fixture against a European team. The last time these two teams met, Vincent Kompany suffered a devastating loss to Unai Emery in the Champions League league stage. Since then, a couple of seasons have gone by, and FC Bayern have progressed heavily as a team.

Unfortunately, this is preseason, so no scores can be settled yet. However, the way this game was conducted does give us some insight into how Vincent Kompany intends to shape his team this season.

Jersey Swap: Marco Bizot

Bayern Munich should have scored at least two more goals if not for Dutch goalkeeper Marco Bizot. Starting in place of World Cup finalist Emiliano Martínez, the 35-year-old made some acrobatic saves to repeatedly deny FC Bayern a goal, including a sequence where he made three saves in a row. In a game that Villa spent on the back foot 70% of the time, his contribution was the most significant.

Der Kaiser: Not awarded

Not a great day for Bayern Munich defenders. Yes, Kim Min-jae scored a goal, but that does not make a Kaiser. Part of this is because Unai Emery set Aston Villa up to absorb pressure, which meant that Bayern Munich spent vast swathes of the game with no one threatening their goal. This changed in the final ten minutes, where a bunch of Villa subs (and some shuffling of the backline by Kompany) allowed the Premier League side to suddenly mount some serious pressure.

The defense eventually crumbled, conceding once to João Gomes and a near equalizer minutes later, saved by a cognizant Manuel Neuer. Conceding one goal from two-ish chances isn’t a good look.

Fußballgott: Aleksandar Pavlović

He looks so much better when he actually has a functioning system around him and doesn’t have to keep passing the ball sideways for no reason. Pavlović probably had the worst World Cup of any Bayern Munich player, which raised concerns about his spot in the lineup at club level. It seems, however, that the 22-year-old is more than capable of playing well when he knows what he is supposed to do. Shame how Germany never figured it out.

Der Bomber: Luis Díaz

Aston Villa looked relatively comfortable defending against the likes of Tim Binder and Maycon Cardozo. Then Díaz came on and hit them like a truck. The Colombian was a level apart from the attackers Bayern Munich were fielding up to that point, hitting hard and fast and allowing very little reprieve. His relentless onslaught resulted in a well-taken goal, which earned his team the win in the end.

Meister of the Match: Tom Bischof

With each passing preseason game, Tom Bischof looks more and more like a first XI player. His physicality, positioning, and silky smooth skills on the ball constitute a compelling profile for any coach. Everything Bayern Munich did went through Bischof, more or less. He was both the defensive backbone and creative spark of the team. Add to that his laser-guided free kicks, you get perhaps the most complete player on the squad right now.

Tom Bischof is making his mark in this preseason. He needs a larger role going forward.

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