Vincent Kompany exudes pride in Bayern Munich’s defensive effort against Bayer Leverkusen

This was the type of game that a defender like Kompany relishes.

For the first time in the Vincent Kompany era, Bayern Munich lost the possession battle in Saturday’s intense 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern also failed to register a shot on goal for the first time since 2008.

Overall, Bayern struggled to quickly regain possession or even hold possession on Leverkusen’s side of the pitch. Thanks to an incredible defensive effort and a couple lucky bounces off the crossbar, Bayern’s defense rallied to its second consecutive clean sheet in the Bundesliga.

“Ideally, we always want to press and recover the ball as quickly as possible,” said Kompany (via @iMiaSanMia). “But if a team earns the right to play then we have to defend. Leverkusen did that today, they took care of the ball really well and pressed really well – so we had to defend. In that sense, I can still give a massive compliment to my team for the mentality and the defending. We played so many games where we scored so many goals, so this for us is a point that we can take home.”

Kompany’s recent work on the training pitch has focused on defending as a unit inside the box. Bayern’s defense was up to the challenge and delivered a critical point to maintain the eight-point lead atop the Bundesliga table.