Bayern Munich Are Still the Best Team in Europe & it's Not Even Close

Breaking news just in from Bavaria: Bayern Munich are still the best team in Europe.

Admittedly, this coolest of hot takes might not make the opening items at ten o'clock but Bayern Munich's emphatic 4-0 thrashing of Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night was a statement victory for Europe's elite to take notice of.

While the rest of the continent had seemingly descended into goal-mania, Diego Simeone's infamously parsimonious Atlético started the campaign with a typical defensive resolve - keeping three clean sheets in their opening four games.

Yet, Bayern were able to ruthlessly dismantle Los Colchoneros with time to take their foot off the pedal for the final quarter of an hour. On a night when Robert Lewandowski didn't even trouble the scoresheet and Serge Gnabry watched from quarantine, it was a performance for those of a slightly lesser status in the Bayern squad to come to the fore.

Bayern Munich's opening game of the season had scarcely finished before their official social media accounts were polling fans for a shared name befitting their latest deadly duo on the flanks: Sanabry or Gnané?

Gnabry and his new partner in crime Leroy Sané were electric in Bayern's 8-0 mauling of Schalke, snaffling up six goals and assists between them in a performance which drew eery parallels to Arjen Robben’s first outing alongside Franck Ribéry almost a decade beforehand.

Yet it was KIngsley Coman - who wasn't in the squad for that Schalke annihilation - who stole the acclaim against Atlético Madrid. 59 days after settling last season's final against Paris Saint-Germain, Coman bagged a brace and an assist while both members of Sanabry (the public's decision) were sidelined in midweek.

As Sané nursed a knee injury and Gnabry went into quarantine after a positive COVID-19 test, Coman thrived as effectively Bayern's only winger on the night. With Thomas Müller adhering to his own unique brand of positional freedom, Coman tormented Atléti's backline, cropping up on both the left and right the fleet-footed Frenchman posed the constant threat of darting in behind - which proved to be the source of his two goals.

Even when Atlético combatted Coman's threat by funnelling three bodies around him inside the box, Bayern's number 29 had the vision to spot a teammate in space, rolling a pass to the unmarked Leon Goretzka for the game's second goal.

Yet, five minutes into Wednesday's match the wait for Manuel Neuer's 200th clean sheet in a Bayern shirt looked as if it would go on for another game. Atlético - much like their neon kit - started the brighter of the two sides, winning a flurry of corners and stealing the ball off Bayern inside their own half.

However, the man (mountain) who climbed highest to thump away the second of those set pieces would enjoy a remarkably assured performance at the back for Bayern, quelling the far from inconsiderable threat Luis Suárez continues to offer. Niklas Süle seamlessly filled in for the rested Jérôme Boateng, winning all five of his aerial duels and permeating an aura of calm and confidence throughout.

The legendary Milan defender Paolo Maldini once famously said: "If I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake." Süle's tally of zero for that particular statistic on Wednesday reflected a near faultless display.

Süle was limited to just a handful of outings last season due to injury, and Lucas Hernández, in his debut campaign in Bavaria after moving from Atléti, endured a similar fate. By the time the French World Cup winner had returned from a fractured ankle, Alphonso Davies had firmly established himself as one of Europe's most exciting left-backs.

Yet, of Bayern's opening five Bundesliga and Champions League games this season, Hernández has started four of them. The only one in which Davies supplanted him at left-back was the club's surprise 4-1 defeat away to Hoffenheim.

While this early season preference does little to erase the months of phenomenal displays Davies racked up in the previous campaign, Hernández - after a dominant performance all players must crave against their former club - is offering few opportunities for Bayern fans to miss the Canadian speedster.

In a season where the majority of Europe's elite have ominous question marks swirling overhead, Bayern were able to inflict the joint-heaviest defeat Simeone's Atlético have ever suffered thanks to players from the second tier of their glittering squad.

If their startling end to the previous campaign hadn't already delivered the message, Wednesday night's thrashing reasserted it: Bayern Munich are still the best team in Europe.