Pep Guardiola's return to Barcelona and the Camp Nou he left just about three years ago was much anticipated. The Bayern coach, who attended Futbol Club Barcelona vs Manchester City in the Champions League, chose to use his season ticket rather than go by invitation of the Barcelona board to the director box due to discrepancies with the current administration of the club. After he witnessed a tremendous game by Barça and especially Lionel Messi, Guardiola left early, so there were no signs he crossed path with Bartomeu, Faus or other executives of the board.

Clearly, Guardiola didn’t want to speak about his former club – he wanted to attend a game, apparently enjoyed himself on the stands, but that’s it. He didn’t want to give the media even more reason for excited reports, the buzz was already high enough. And the buzz continues, even non-Barcelona-related.

Back in Germany, Pep returned to his daily routine. On Sunday, his side Bayern Munich didn’t experience a routine like they were used to – because Bayern lost 0:2 to a reactive Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena, their first home defeat in the Bundesliga this season.

The talk in Germany after the unexpected and equally uninspired loss is all about counterattacks – once again. It’s the same talk after every (rare) defeat. Because the threat to Bayern’s game is all the same: the vulnerability to counterattacks.

“They played as we analyzed it before”, said Thomas Müller after the game – and still the Bavarians didn’t manage it to contain the fast-break danger on the one side and create enough opportunities on the other side of the pitch. They suffered a bad loss to VfL Wolfsburg in the first game after the winter break (1-4), and you could see the same symptoms against Mönchengladbach once again.

“Guardiola needs a plan” went the headline of "Kicker" sports magazine, pointing out that Bayern didn’t have “any ideas without Ribery and Robben”, while newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” noticed a “desire for the whirlwind“, which is Robben. The dutchman got hurt and will miss a couple of weeks with a torn abdominal muscle, while Ribery isn’t fully fit yet. Without Robben Bayern’s performances have dipped this season: the in-form winger missed seven and a half games and Bayern just won four of them. In the absence of Robben and Ribery, the Germans lack penetration and individual brilliance in the final third. Or as “Süddeutsche Zeitung” puts it: “Bayerns possession football loses his authenticity and gets sluggish“.

Guardiola has concerns in defense and midfield as well: Bayern are still prone to get caught on the break, the midfield pair Bastian Schweinsteiger and Xabi Alonso is often considered slow. German media is still wondering if the experienced duo can go well together in the center of the pitch. They orchestrated play against Wolfsburg and Gladbach, and the results are pretty telling. Even if Guardiola points out that he doesn’t necessarily need “quick legs” in midfield, because “quick minds” is what matters. Against Gladbach, Bayern lacked both. The next opponent for the german champions is Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. Against Jürgen Klopps high-pressing and hard-running outfit, Bayern can surely need quick legs and minds – both in attack and defense. Guardiola has to figure out a plan.