Manchester City and Bayern Munich open the most exciting tie in the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Etihad, a priori the two top favorites for the title, without forgetting Real Madrid, the current champion. For Pep Guardiola it will be especially emotional because not only does he go back to pursuing his dream of lifting the Orejona for the first time with City (he won two with FC Barcelona) but he also comes across a team he led in the Bundesliga before landing in Manchester .
City marches in the Premier after Arsenal but Bayern arrives at the appointment after a few more turbulent weeks that ended up costing their coach, Julian Nagelsmann, their job. He has lost and recovered the leadership of his league and has suffered the setback of the elimination of the Cup against Freiburg. The bench is now in the hands of Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea two seasons ago…precisely against Guardiola’s City.
Tuchel had little time to prepare for the tie, but he has Bayern’s solvency in the competition, where he has just eliminated PSG, another of the great favorites, in the round of 16, and he did it without too many problems. The coach, with a lot of personality, got off to a good start at Bayern, beating his former team, Borussia Dortmund, and regaining the lead in the Bundesliga.
Guardiola had to face the question of every year yesterday, if this is finally going to be the one who can lift the Champions League with the skyblues. “The question comes to me every season and I understand it. It’s something we try every year, but we play against great teams and everyone wants to win it. My dream is to win all the titles, but the fact that you are going to try does not mean that you will achieve it, â€explained the Catalan at a press conference. And he gave an example: “Michael Jordan won six NBA rings, but how many seasons did he play? 16. â€, he reasoned.
The tie also has, if something was missing, the incentive of seeing the Norwegian Erling HÃ¥land against his true black beast. HÃ¥land, who has already scored 44 goals this season, has never beaten Bayern in an official match, with seven games in two seasons against the Bavarians and seven defeats. However, in those matches the Norwegian striker scored five goals and gave one assist. And he did not play the 90 minutes of each duel; in five of them he was replaced.
Pep Guardiola valued the importance of having HÃ¥land: “He’s very important for us, I’m not going to deny it. He came to help us in the Champions League, yes, but also in the FA Cup and the Premier League. It’s important to have a player who can score goals out of nowhere, but in the past we’ve also scored a lot and got knocked out. Maybe the problem is that we weren’t strong enough on defense,†he pointed out.
For today, not many changes are expected in Guardiola’s lineup, which has Phil Foden out due to appendicitis. The only doubt in principle would be between Riyad Mahrez or Bernardo Silva. In defense the formation of three will return, with Nathan Aké, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji, seconded by John Stones, in a midfield role when City go on the attack.
At Bayern Tuchel he recovers Upamecano so that he forms the axis of the defense with Mathys de Light, so that Benjamin Pavard would return to the right side to the detriment of João Cancelo. If he plays on the left, Alphonso Davies would be left out. Up front, Bayern have the doubt of Choupo Moting, out against Freiburg in the league at the weekend due to knee problems. It is in Europe where the Bavarian club has shown its best version this season.
There is no entry left on the Etihad. Everything that is not resolving the tie in Munich will be a surprise. The winner will face Real Madrid or Chelsea in the semifinals, all for the toughest part of the Champions League box.
