Max Verstappen recovered from a slow start to Saturday's sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to prevail and ensure he will start Sunday's race in first.

The Tifosi at Imola are hoping for a weekend-long celebration amid Ferrari's resurgence, led by Charles Leclerc, in 2022.

He was on course to give them something to cheer in the sprint, getting past pole-sitter Verstappen and, for most of the 21 laps, looking set to claim the maximum eight points.

But Leclerc's front right tyre grained in the final laps as Verstappen closed quickly in an impressive Red Bull, the reigning world champion retaking the lead on the penultimate lap to claim victory.

Leclerc extended his championship lead to 40 points as Mercedes' George Russell finished outside the eight points places on another dismal day for the Silver Arrows, while Ferrari's Carlos Sainz moved into second in the drivers' standing as he took fourth behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

An abundance of wheelspin at the start saw Verstappen surrender top spot to Leclerc and he was not close to the Ferrari at a safety car restart following a collision between Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu.

But, as Leclerc's right front faded, Verstappen struck a blow for Red Bull as he got himself within a second at the DRS zone on the start-finish straight and swept around the outside of the Ferrari into the Tamburello chicane.

Perez got himself up from seventh to third while Sainz improved from 10th to fourth after his crash in qualifying, with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo claiming fifth and sixth.

The final points places went to Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Haas' Kevin Magnussen, with Russell and Lewis Hamilton non-factors who will start 11th and 14th respectively.

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick conceded his team's hopes of Champions League qualification are over after Saturday's 3-1 loss to Arsenal.

A top-four finish already looked unlikely for the Red Devils after their 4-0 humiliation by Liverpool at Anfield in midweek, but their trip to the Emirates Stadium saw them go up against a direct rival.

While United's performance was undoubtedly an improvement on their horror show on Merseyside, Rangnick's men fell 2-0 behind in the first half thanks to an early Nuno Tavares goal and Bukayo Saka's penalty.

Cristiano Ronaldo pulled one back with his 100th Premier League goal before Bruno Fernandes hit the post from the spot – that was one of three occasions United were denied by the frame of the goal, as Diogo Dalot hit both the upright and crossbar.

Arsenal finished United off slightly against the run of play when Granit Xhaka blasted home from distance with 20 minutes to go.

Victory leaves the fourth-placed Gunners six points ahead of United, while the former also have a game in hand, and Rangnick was frank in his assessment of the situation.

Asked if the top four was out of reach for United, Rangnick told BT Sport: "Pretty sure. For me, even before the game it wasn't likely, but after today's result, the top four is gone, yes."

This was United's first game since Erik ten Hag was confirmed as the club's next permanent manager, news that dominated the build-up to the match from the Red Devils' perspective.

The consensus has been that Ten Hag faces a massive rebuild at Old Trafford, with Rangnick previously suggesting United might need to sign as many as 10 new players.

But Rangnick did not feel United's performance on Saturday highlighted any new issues, while the German – who has been extremely critical of his players at times lately – even praised the team's attitude.

"There is a lot of work for sure [for Ten Hag], we knew before the game," Rangnick continued.

"But we also showed what kind of football we can play, and although we had to deal with the two early goals, we still showed the attitudes.

"So there is nothing about the attitude of the players that we should fault today."

Nevertheless, Rangnick was frustrated by United's feeble defending once again, though he tempered that by questioning the validity of some VAR decisions.

Among them, Xhaka's strike was allowed to stand despite replays suggesting Eddie Nketiah was in David de Gea's line of sight and an offside position, while United were denied a first-half penalty despite Cedric Soares clearly blocking the ball with his hand while crawling.

"The only weak side of the performance was we didn't defend well in and around the box," he said. "The same happened when we conceded the second and third goals, but for me there were three very unlucky, let's put it that way, VAR decisions.

"For me the third goal of Arsenal was clearly offside, you can see it in slow-mo. David said to me he couldn't see the ball.

"The second goal of Cristiano was definitely not offside and there was another handball decision in the first half, so we were not very happy with those VAR decisions in the end. It was an improved performance but disappointing result."

Barcelona boss Xavi has highlighted the difficulties of competing for trophies after Lionel Messi's departure, but says the Catalan giants cannot afford to replicate the recent struggles of Manchester United.

The Blaugrana head into Sunday's match against Rayo Vallecano 15 points behind LaLiga leaders Real Madrid with just 18 points to play for, albeit the buffer to Real Betis in fourth is six.

After previous boss Ronald Koeman left the Catalan giants in ninth position, Xavi has overseen a revival of the team's fortunes and is looking to secure a top-four finish at the end of a transitional season for the club.

Although Xavi acknowledged Barcelona will need to be patient in their pursuit of trophies after losing legendary forward Messi to Paris Saint-Germain, he said the club cannot afford to miss out on Champions League football, highlighting the Red Devils as an example of a household name to have struggled to qualify for the competition.

"It's our reality. This is the post-[Lionel] Messi era, that's difficult in itself," Xavi told a news conference ahead of Sunday's clash with Rayo Vallecano. "He used to win games on his own. We have to be patient. I'm excited to win trophies, but we have to strengthen. We have to be realistic.

"We're in the first year of the post-Messi era, we have to be patient. We've seen a lot of great teams, like at Manchester United, [where] it's been hard for them to come back, to qualify for the Champions League. 

"Barca can't allow that. We have to fight for trophies, we want to compete."

Xavi's arrival has had a positive impact on the Camp Nou outfit, who had briefly threatened to challenge runaway leaders Madrid. 

Among the players to look rejuvenated under Xavi is Ousmane Dembele, whose nine league assists in 2022 place him level with former team-mate Messi as the most creative players in the top five European Leagues this calendar year.

Meanwhile, another of Xavi's trusted first-teamers, Frenkie de Jong, has been linked with a move to Old Trafford after his former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag was confirmed to be taking over from Ralf Rangnick at the end of this season.

Xavi, however, is desperate to keep hold of the midfielder "for many years", saying he has the talent to "mark an era" at Camp Nou.

"Frenkie is very important for me, for the club and for the team," Xavi added. "He is a footballer who has to mark an era, for his quality and personality.

"He is at a very good level since I arrived, and he has to continue scoring goals, [making] assists ... and being a protagonist in the games. He could be one of the best midfielders in the world in the coming years. 

"We have not commented on it [De Jong's future], but if it is up to me, he would continue for many years."

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has said he will "hopefully" return from injury before the end of the season.

Pogba sustained a calf problem in the 4-0 defeat at Liverpool on Tuesday that is expected to keep him out for a month.

United interim manager Ralf Rangnick had said on Friday he believed Pogba would not feature again this season, adding that he "most likely won't be" staying at the club beyond this campaign.

The France star is out of contract at the end of the season, and United's final game of 2021-22 is on May 22.

"He won’t be available [at Arsenal] and most likely not for the rest of the games. It seems right now he will not renew his contract [so] it's most likely he won't be here any more next season," Rangnick said at a news conference.

However, Pogba – who has been linked with a move to Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and former club Juventus in recent weeks – posted on social media during his team's 3-1 defeat at Arsenal to explain that he is still aiming to play again before the campaign ends.

"Absolutely gutted to not be able to help the team in today's game," he wrote. "I will work even harder to come back stronger and hopefully before the end of the season. It's not over. 

"Thank you all for your support, United we would stand!"

The 29-year-old won the World Cup with France in 2018, playing a starring role in that Les Bleus team, but has struggled to play at a consistently high level for United since returning to the Premier League club in 2016.

Manchester United's hopes of playing Champions League football next season are surely over after losing 3-1 away to fellow top-four hopefuls Arsenal in a Premier League thriller.

United travelled to the Emirates hoping for a response to their 4-0 humiliation by Liverpool and, although their general display was improved, defensively they were unconvincing again.

Nuno Tavares had Arsenal in front early on and a Bukayo Saka penalty made it 2-0 just before Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 100th Premier League goal – though that was just the tip of the iceberg amid an entertaining first half.

The visitors began the second period well and somehow failed to equalise, with Bruno Fernandes missing a penalty and Diogo Dalot hitting the post, with Granit Xhaka's piledriver then dealing the hammer blow.

United made another slow start as Saka tested David de Gea after two defenders missed the ball and Tavares tapped in the rebound for a third-minute lead.

The response from United was purposeful. They created several chances, hit the crossbar from range via Dalot and were controversially denied a penalty when Cedric Soares handled in the box.

But Arsenal then increased their lead just past the half-hour.

Eddie Nketiah had a goal disallowed for offside, yet Alex Telles was deemed to have fouled Saka just prior in the same VAR check and the winger converted the resulting penalty.

United swiftly pulled one back, Ronaldo expertly turning in Nemanja Matic's wonderful curling cross.

They spurned an opportunity to draw level from the spot, though, as Fernandes hit his kick against the post early in the second half – Ronaldo then had a second goal disallowed for a marginal offside.

Dalot struck the goal frame again with United's next attack and Arsenal capitalised on the profligacy in the 70th minute when Xhaka blasted past De Gea from 30 yards to seal victory.

It was a doubly painful night on Friday for Miami Heat point guard Kyle Lowry, limping out of Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks with a hamstring injury, before seeing the Hawks win it late on.

Lowry pulled up in the third quarter of the 111-110 defeat for the Eastern Conference's number one seeds at State Farm Arena.

The Hawks win brought the series margin back to 2-1, but it required some late-game heroics from Trae Young to get the job done.

Trailing by one point with 12 seconds to go, Atlanta did not call a timeout, which enabled Young to put his side up by one with less than five seconds on the clock.

Not hiding his feelings post-game, Lowry told ESPN: "I'm pissed the f*** off," before referring to himself as the X-Men character "Wolverine," famous for his ability to heal quickly.

The 36-year-old suffered the injury with around two minutes left in the third quarter and with Miami leading by 13 points, before Atlanta produced a fine comeback to steal it at the death.

"All I know right now is it's a hamstring," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But I do not know the severity of it and we'll find out more tomorrow."

Lowry made just two of seven field goal attempts on the night, and two of six from beyond the arc, as well as registering four rebounds and five assists before his game came to a premature end.

Heat team-mate Jimmy Butler added: "I know we love that guy as our point guard. If he's with us, yippee-ki-yay. If he's not, somebody has got to step in and do his job.

"It's very, very hard to do. But we got enough in that locker room to try to bring to the table what Kyle does. He'll get his treatment and we'll see where he's at."

Game 4 takes place on Sunday in Atlanta.

Xavi said his Barcelona team must fight for titles next season, as he acknowledged second place was the highest finish realistically available to them in LaLiga this term.

Barcelona earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Real Sociedad on Thursday, and go into Sunday's home contest with Rayo Vallecano 15 points behind league leaders Real Madrid with just 18 points left to play for.

The Catalan giants' victory in the Basque Country, secured courtesy of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's first-half header, kept them six points clear of fifth-placed Real Betis as Xavi attempts to lead his team to Champions League qualification.

Xavi, however, recognises that improvements will be needed next season, acknowledging that while second place is the best Barcelona can hope for this term, "only winning" counts at Camp Nou.

"We are playing a lot, [qualification for] the Champions League and second place [are our targets]," he told reporters at a news conference on Saturday. "The league [title] is very difficult.

"We have dropped a little in terms of the game compared to a few weeks ago. If we recover, we will be closer to results. We must finish as high as possible, which realistically is second place.

"Since November in the league we've been fighting with Madrid. Next year we have to fight to win titles, here it is only worth winning. 

"Since November, we are one or two points behind Madrid, but they are up there on their own merits and so are we, we've gone from ninth to second [since Xavi replaced former boss Ronald Koeman]."

After suffering back-to-back home losses to Eintracht Frankfurt and Cadiz, Barcelona are looking to avoid losing three consecutive games at Camp Nou for just the second time in their history when they host Vallecano, having only previously done so under Louis van Gaal in 1998.

However, Xavi has undoubtedly made a positive impact since replacing Koeman at the helm, with the January arrivals of Ferran Torres and Aubameyang, LaLiga's top scorer in 2022 with nine goals, boosting their hopes of finishing second.

Rumours have linked several big names, including Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, with summer moves to Camp Nou, but Xavi says the need for further additions must continue to be balanced with the club's finances. 

"We are planning for next year, but we depend on the club's economy," he added. "Let's see what we can do, and people have to go out. You have to do good planning and the idea is to have two competitive players per position.

"We have to start planning but what most concerns us is day-to-day, staying as high as possible, but let's see what economic situation we are in."

Meanwhile, Xavi revealed Gerard Pique, who has made headlines after leaked audio messages highlighted his involvement in moving the Supercopa de Espana to Saudi Arabia, is a doubt for Sunday's clash after playing through injury on Thursday.  

"We are managing it as best we can," Xavi said of his former team-mate's injury.

"He has had discomfort for two or three months, but he endured 80 minutes [against Sociedad] in a spectacular way. We will see tomorrow, he has not been able to train today."

Cristiano Ronaldo has reached 100 Premier League goals after netting for Manchester United against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.

The 37-year-old bought up his Premier League century over 19 years after his debut in the competition when he swept home from Nemanja Matic's cross.

Ronaldo's goal hauled United back into the contest after they had found themselves 2-0 down following goals from Nuno Tavares and Bukayo Saka.

It came at the end of a difficult week for Ronaldo, who confirmed the loss of his baby son on Monday and subsequently missed United's defeat to Liverpool a day later.

Having hit all of those goals in United colours, Ronaldo becomes just the third player to reach the landmark while playing solely for the Red Devils, along with former team-mates Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

Ronaldo has now scored 16 league goals since returning to Old Trafford despite the team enduring a frustrating season overall. 

The United great had already tallied up 84 goals in the competition before departing for Real Madrid in 2009, with his finest goalscoring campaign coming in 2007-08 as the Red Devils lifted the Premier League and Champions League trophies. 

Having scored 31 goals in that outstanding campaign, he remains one of just five players to hit 30 goals in a single Premier League season, alongside Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, Luis Suarez, and Mohamed Salah.

Despite United underwhelming this season, Ronaldo has continued to make history since returning to the club.

The Portuguese forward scored twice on his second debut for the club against Newcastle United last September, 12 years and 124 days after recording his last Premier League goal in May 2009, the second-longest gap between two strikes by any player in the competition's history (after Matt Jackson's gap of 13 years and 187 days between 1993 and 2006).

Ronaldo has also hit two hat-tricks in the competition since turning 37 in February, in 3-2 wins over Tottenham and Norwich City. Those displays made him just the third player aged 37 or over to hit multiple goals in a Premier League game after Teddy Sheringham and Graham Alexander, and just the second to do so more than once (Alexander also twice).

He is one of just four players to score at least 100 goals in two of Europe's big five leagues, having also reached the landmark for Real Madrid in LaLiga. United team-mate Edinson Cavani (Ligue 1, Serie A), Gonzalo Higuain (LaLiga, Serie A) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ligue 1, Serie A) are the others on that exclusive list.

While Ronaldo's future could become unclear if United miss out on a top-four finish, the striker will be looking to carry his fine goalscoring form into what will surely be his final World Cup appearance in Qatar later this year.

Cristiano Ronaldo was included in Manchester United line-up for the Red Devils' trip to top-four rivals Arsenal, while captain Harry Maguire was named among the substitutes.

Superstar forward Ronaldo, who is just one goal away from bringing up a career century of Premier League strikes after scoring 15 in the top flight this season, missed Tuesday's 4-0 defeat at Liverpool after announcing the loss of his son on Monday. 

Ronaldo has scored six goals in his last seven appearances against Arsenal in all competitions, including twice in the reverse fixture in December, and a brace on his last visit to the Emirates in May 2009 in the Champions League semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Maguire has been named among the substitutes by caretaker boss Ralf Rangnick. The England defender received a bomb threat to his home this week, with police later confirming no suspicious object was found after a search.

Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane will partner one another in the heart of the United defence, while Bruno Fernandes has taken the captain's armband in the absence of Maguire.

Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have also been dropped to the bench after the humiliating loss at Anfield, with Paul Pogba's injury ruling him out entirely as Alex Telles, Jadon Sancho, and Scott McTominay return to Rangnick's XI.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have made just one change from their 4-2 win over Chelsea, introducing Cedric Soares in place of Rob Holding at the back.

United travel to the Emirates three points behind the Gunners in the Premier League table having played one game more, as Rangnick looks to secure Champions League football before making way for Erik ten Hag.

Christian Eriksen says he is "enjoying the moment" at Brentford, but refused to commit to his next steps ahead of a reunion with former club Tottenham on Saturday.

The Denmark international will face his old club for the first time since he linked up with the Bees in January, a move which came seven months after his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

The playmaker has defied expectations to make a full return to football after his collapse in Copenhagen last summer, and has been at the heart of Brentford's revival since arriving. 

He will reunite with Spurs for the first time since he left for Inter in 2020 this weekend, as well as with former Nerazzurri boss Antonio Conte.

Those close links have fuelled speculation he could return to his former North London home at the conclusion of the season, but for now, Eriksen is focused on enjoying his time with the Bees.

"When I signed here in January, it was actually [about] coming back and showing I was a football player and could play football," he told Sky Sports ahead of the Bees' clash with Spurs.

"There was also the six months of a test trial. By now, it feels good. But for the future, I don't know.

"I'm just enjoying the moment, every game is really fun to play in. What happens in the summer will be a decision for me as a footballer and as a family man.

"Everything is open. I've been taken good care of at Brentford, they've really shown me a lot of love and [I'm] trying to repay them for what they've showed me.

"Every option is open, either at Brentford or anywhere else."

Spurs captain Hugo Lloris, meanwhile, says his side are looking forward to seeing their old team-mate, who helped them to the 2019 Champions League Final during his time with the club.

"After what happened to him, it's always nice to see an ex-team-mate but even more, a player who was special for the club," he told Tottenham's official website.

"He spent more than six years at the club and he had a great time, we had a great time as team-mates.

"Then after what happened last summer… for most of us, it's going to be the first time that we’ve seen him.

"Obviously the most important thing for us right now is the game and the three points. We will have time after the game to enjoy the moment with him."

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has refused suggestions that a lack of effort has hampered the Blues at Stamford Bridge, although he admits he is struggling to explain their poor home form.

Having fallen to a 4-2 home defeat against Arsenal on Wednesday, Tuchel's men have lost three consecutive games at Stamford Bridge after a 4-1 Premier League loss to Brentford and a 3-1 Champions League quarter-final reverse to Real Madrid earlier this month.

Chelsea host West Ham on Sunday, looking to solidify their grasp on third place in the Premier League after losing just one of their last 15 home league games against the Irons (10 wins, four draws).

Although unsure as to what was causing the Blues' Stamford Bridge woes, Tuchel refused suggestions that a lack of effort was to blame.

The 48-year-old also insisted it was normal for elite players to feel less "tension" during regular league games than in European knockout games, having watched the Blues make multiple defensive errors in their defeat to the Gunners.

"It comes back to me because I should push them and make them alert," Tuchel said. "It's human to be tired, human to be more alert in a knockout game than a normal match. Sometimes it's also good, the foundation to be able to play 60 games.

"I remember at Mainz [Tuchel's first senior management role] with one game a week, every game was like a cup final. On a Saturday, we gave 150 per cent physically but also mentally, the players were drained until Tuesday. 

"Once I stepped into being coach at Borussia Dortmund, I saw that players gave everything physically on a normal match but mentally it was not the same stress level as for players at Mainz. They were capable of playing more games.

"It's a thin line in judging – that's why lazy is the wrong word. But it's okay to feel less tension in a normal match in the Premier League and a home match than if you go to the Bernabeu. 

"It's normal because it is maybe less tension, less excitement, less pressure. But it cannot lead to being less alert. This can never happen.

"I don't know what it is [causing Chelsea's poor home form]. If it was just the one thing, we would switch dressing rooms or take another hotel or something like this.

"But that would maybe be more superstition than anything else. I have no solution, but it's also not the level that we want to produce in home games."

Chelsea have secured 26 points from a possible 45 in their 15 home Premier League games this season (seven wins, five draws, three defeats). Away from Stamford Bridge, Tuchel's team have taken 36 points from 16 games (11 wins, three draws, two losses).

The Blues' attempts to rectify their poor home displays could be buoyed, however, by the poor travelling record of Sunday's visitors, with West Ham failing to win a Premier League game on their travels since beating Crystal Palace on January 1, recording one draw and four defeats on the road since then.

In this footballing climate, what are Bayern Munich and where do they sit in its pecking order?

From Barcelona, to Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in recent years, the financial and footballing disparity between Europe's elite and the rest has warped perception. Lifting the league trophy at the end of the season no longer provides safety for a head coach.

Even then, Bayern are an extreme example. In the six years since Pep Guardiola left for Manchester City, they have gone through six head coaches, despite winning the Bundesliga in every season over that same period.

Bayern have been global standard-bearers for nearly four decades. Where other clubs and leagues have had lull periods away from the very highest levels of European football, they have consistently been in contention for silverware, even in relatively weak periods.

Just as importantly, though, the superiority clubs like Bayern now enjoy almost automatically dictates they will dominate possession in many games, irrespective of the ideology of the coach in charge and whether their teams can function with the ball as a consequence.

Niko Kovac's first season in 2018-19 was a good example of this. Bayern came nowhere near functioning in possession relative to the array of talent they had and still – along with some aid from Borussia Dortmund's regression to the mean after initial xG over-performance under Lucien Favre – managed an 11-point turnaround from third place in February to win the Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, they were comprehensively beaten by Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League with the majority of possession. Things declined even further under Kovac in his second season, before Hansi Flick took over the head coaching role, conquered Europe and subsequently replaced Joachim Low as the German national team coach at the end of the 2020-21 season.

This is the wider context that must be considered for Julian Nagelsmann's first season and what follows, because both club and international football ultimately acts within a continuum. Ahead of this weekend's Klassiker, much like that first season under Kovac, there's a dissonance that will accompany Bayern's title win.

Ultimately, a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title will not wash away the taste of Bayern's meek elimination at the hands of Villarreal in the Champions League quarter-finals. Those two legs were a microcosm of numerous aspects concerning this Bayern season – their true capacity in possession relative to the level of opposition, Nagelsmann's continual switching between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 formations, and finally from a standpoint of net gain, whether he's really getting the most out of the extraordinary creative forces that are Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski.

It is hard to overstate how Muller and Lewandowski provided more than goals and assists for Bayern under Flick. The utilisation of that duo was integral to the team's very functioning in possession, especially with Thiago Alcantara missing significant portions of that post-lockdown run late in the 2019-20 season. Kingsley Coman's decisive goal in the 2020 Champions League final against PSG was a perfect picture of the team when all three of Lewandowski, Muller and Thiago played – having initially tried to cover Muller, Leandro Paredes had to scramble, but it was too late, as Thiago fired his pass into Joshua Kimmich and Bayern got up the pitch.

Their combined touches in open play per 90 minutes under respective coaches makes for a good starting point. Under Kovac, Lewandowski and Muller held a combined 98.19 touches and 3.35 chances created from open play per 90 in all competitions. Flick's arrival leads to a dramatic spike for the two in both categories, with 107.6 touches in open play and 4.53 chances created in open play per 90.

Father Time will dictate an inevitable decline for the two as they approach 35, but more pertinently, Nagelsmann's approach has led to a return to their numbers under Kovac, with 98.59 touches per match and 3.85 chances created from open play between the two in all competitions this season. Then there's the discrepancy in eventual shot location.

The difference lies in involvement. Under Flick, Muller and Lewandowski effectively played as two strikers in a 4-4-2, while the wingers kept the defensive line pinned back, allowing the two with sufficient space to retreat and operate between the lines. Especially with midfielders like Kimmich and Leon Goretzka who do not like receiving the ball in tight areas, it was a critical component of Bayern's play and enabled them to open up the pitch.

Kimmich's increase in chance creation – his 2.83 per 90 this season is his highest out of the last four seasons in all competitions – is arguably born of the fact he is now Bayern's set-piece taker. His chance creation in open play has actually gone down from last season's 1.68 to 1.44, despite an increase in touches from 100.8 to 105.85.

Lewandowski and Muller's comparatively higher positioning and primary objective of threat behind the defensive line under Nagelsmann frankly makes the switching between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 irrelevant, because the 34-year-old has taken away the very thing that made Bayern function to begin with – the pair's ability to incorporate as well as get on the end of moves. Jamal Musiala's deployment in a 3-4-3 in the second leg against Villarreal only managed to clog the middle of the pitch up even further.

The player who has suffered the most with this change, however, is Serge Gnabry. His combined xG+xA figure of 0.92 in 2019-20 has dramatically decreased to 0.69 this year, while the middle of the pitch has been completely closed off to him, something evident in his dribble progression.

It all relates to the eventuality of Bayern's shot location and quality. Shot volume in Nagelsmann's first season has gone up to 20.13 in comparison to the 18.08 of that treble season under Flick, but they are shooting from further away, and with no increase in xG per shot. Against better defences, teams that hold high volumes of possession but ultimately struggle to play through the middle of the pitch are eventually found out. That has been the case this year, in Europe and particular in domestic losses to Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach.

This all exists amid the backdrop of Bayern Munich's waning financial power and status as a destination in relation to the rest of Europe's elite. Bayern centre-back Niklas Sule is set to leave for arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund. Emerging stars from within the Bundesliga who traditionally would have been guaranteed to end up at Sabener Strasse such as Dortmund's Erling Haaland, or RB Leipzig's Cristopher Nkunku and Josko Gvardiol, appear destined for elsewhere.

In the meantime, Bayern are reportedly haggling with Ajax over the release of Ryan Gravenberch who, despite the hype, arguably will not transform their midfield – much like Corentin Tolisso and Marc Roca.

There is also the small matter of Lewandowski's contract not being renewed and running the risk of expiring at the end of next season.

Sustained success can run the risk of providing diminishing returns, much like Juventus discovered in Italy. The question for Bayern is how to avoid it both as a club and under Nagelsmann, but can they?