Jerome Boateng took all the praise in the German media following his match-winning performance against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
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Boateng, 26, scored with a deflected last-minute volley from the edge of the box to seal Bayern's 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena, but even before his goal the Germany international put in a man-of-the-match performance with a number of key tackles.
"Boateng redeems Guardiola," was the headline on kicker's front page, also naming him man of the match with the best possible grade of "1," with no other player coming close to his mark.
The Germany international, who starred in the World Cup final against Argentina, was also praised by Die Zeit.
"[Bayern] tried everything. Arjen Robben dived, Philipp Lahm took a shot at goal, something he last dared to do in the under-14 team, and Robert Lewandowski tried to baffle the opponent with a full speed somersault. It all didn't help -- until Jerome Boateng was fed up, and battered the ball into the goal in the 90th minute," the paper said.
Bild used the word "redeem" in its headline but, according to the paper, Boateng not only redeemed Guardiola but all of Bayern. "Guardiola was getting desperate on the sidelines. And then came Bang-Boateng!" the paper said.
Der Spiegel had a deeper look at Boateng's stats and was impressed with the centre-back. "The 26-year-old had 105 touches of the ball, 10 more than Xabi Alonso. On top of that, 90 percent of his passes reached their destination," they said. "And in the end he stormed over half of the pitch Lucio-like and forced the 1-0." The news outlet went on to call Boateng "the reliable anchor of the Bayern game."
Local paper Munchner Merkur ran with: "Boateng hammer causes Bayern explosion!" The paper however warned that the City match also "gave assurances that not only the road to the final in Berlin, but also the group stage, will be a tight race."
The Munich-based broadsheet Suddeutsche Zeitung echoed Merkur's sentiment, and said: "Indeed, Bayern scored in the last minute to make it a 1-0 success -- but with their new Lösungsfussball [solution football] they are less dominant than before.
"Luck dominated the evening from a Bavarian perspective. The club needed the luck of a late goal, because they did not radiate the absurd dominance of the past two seasons," the paper commented. "But Munich also forced their luck through their immortal will -- the determination to knock the once again very tame English champions out with a goal."
In the English media, The Times wrote that City's last-gasp defeat left them "haunted" by the familiar face of Boateng, who never scored during his City career. "It is nothing like a knockout blow, not with another five rounds of matches still to play in group E, but it was certainly a kick in the teeth for City," the paper concluded.
The Sun -- which also ran with a "haunted" headline -- was left impressed with Joe Hart's performance in goal for City, though it ultimately "meant nothing" in defeat.
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It was a similar story in The Telegraph, which labelled Boateng's goal a "Hart-breaker," showing how far City still have to develop to challenge for the trophy: "As Sheikh Mansour sends the money, he can demand whatever he wants. But the small pocket of City fans who watched with quiet trepidation are not blind to the reality that England's champions are still not likely winners."
The Guardian, meanwhile, chose to focus on Yaya Toure "failing to turn up" for City, suggesting his wages demand better performances at this elite level: "He is already the club's highest earner on around 220,000 pounds a week. The salary is paid for him to come to the backyards of teams like Bayern and show precisely why he draws such a handsome paycheck. These are the occasions for big-time players to seal a big-game reputation."