Dante’s Bayern II Faces Unprecedented Crisis After Six Losses
The romance of Dante’s return to Munich has run straight into cold reality. Six games, six defeats. Two goals scored, sixteen conceded. And now a piece of unwanted history for FC Bayern II.
After last week’s shock 1-0 home loss to promoted SC Eltersdorf in the Regionalliga opener, the reserve side came away empty-handed again on Friday evening, beaten 2-0 at Wacker Burghausen. For a club that treats its second team as a conveyor belt to the elite, this is more than just a slow start. It is a collapse out of character.
A False Start Like No Other
Since the Regionalliga Bayern was introduced in 2012/13, Bayern’s reserves had never lost their first two league matches. Across all those seasons – interrupted only by two campaigns spent higher up in the 3. Liga – the opening fortnight always brought at least some form of foothold.
Not this time. Two games, zero points, bottom of the table. On paper it is only August and the standings barely mean anything. In practice, the pattern stretches back through pre-season: four friendlies under Dante, four defeats. Add the competitive fixtures and the Brazilian has started his coaching life at Bayern with six straight losses.
The numbers are brutal. Goal difference: 2-16. The worst kind of introduction.
Overrun in Burghausen
At Burghausen, who finished eighth last season, Bayern II never got going in a poor first half. Wacker came out with intent, pressed high and forced mistake after mistake from a jittery visiting back line. The pressure told early and could easily have told even earlier.
Felix Bachschmid finally made the dominance count in the 22nd minute, putting Wacker 1-0 up. Bayern never settled. The young defence creaked again, and Bachschmid struck a second time in the 38th minute. At 2-0, the game felt close to done before the break.
It stayed that way.
Youth, Experience, and a Flat Response
This Bayern II side is very young, even by reserve-team standards. The starting XI in Burghausen had an average age of just 20. To guide them, the club has brought in experience: Benno Schmitz, 31, formerly of 1. FC Köln and RB Leipzig, and 28-year-old Anton Heinz, who has played for the likes of Alemannia Aachen.
After half-time, that blend at least began to show. Bayern tightened up at the back, moved the ball with more conviction and finally created a handful of attacking moments. The game, though, never truly sparked back into life. Wacker controlled the scoreline, if not always the ball, and saw the match out without serious alarm.
“After the break we adjusted a few things and then it was significantly better. Unfortunately, we didn't reward ourselves with a goal,” Dante said after the final whistle. “Even so, we have to keep our heads up – it's important to me that we learn from this match.”
The words are calm. The situation is anything but.
Stakes Far Higher Than One Bad Week
Inside Säbener Straße, nobody will be pressing the relegation alarm after two league fixtures. The season is long, the table still elastic. Yet when you fold in the friendlies, the trend is hard to ignore. The performances have not just been unlucky; they have been worrying.
For Bayern, the reserve team is not a vanity project. It is a strategic pillar. Dropping from the Regionalliga to the Oberliga would be a serious problem for the record champions, sharply lowering the level of competition for their best academy prospects. The club would prefer Bayern II in the 3. Liga, where the jump to the first team feels smaller and the weekly tests are tougher. Regionalliga football is the bare minimum. Anything less undermines the pathway.
That is the backdrop to this nightmare start. Every defeat is not just a bad day; it is a blow to a carefully built development model.
Dante’s Euphoria Meets Reality
Dante did not return to Munich to firefight. The former centre-back, a treble winner with Bayern in 2013 and a popular figure from his playing days between 2012 and 2015, came back from OGC Nice after ending his career with a clear plan: learn to coach at a club he knows, in an environment that understands him.
He arrived at his old home full of optimism and clear ideas. “I want us to play with joy. Young players in particular should enjoy putting their foot down so that they can also be happy after the match. But that only works with a lot of hard work and discipline,” he said shortly before the season began.
The words sounded like a manifesto. High energy. Brave football. Smiles at full-time. Instead, the opening weeks have brought heavy legs, heavy scorelines, and a heavy mood.
The task now is obvious: he has to turn that early euphoria into resilience. The learning curve he promised his players has become steeper than anyone at Bayern expected.
A First Test of Nerves
Next up is 1. FC Schweinfurt, freshly relegated from the 3. Liga, on Saturday. On paper, it is another stern test. In reality, it already feels like something more: an early examination of character for a very young squad and a rookie coach under the microscope.
One win will not fix everything. But if Bayern II stumble again, how long before quiet concern inside the club hardens into genuine anxiety about where this season is heading?
