Bayern’s approach to meeting Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday evening (Live in English from 8.30 pm CET on FCB Web Radio) is characterised by respect, but not awe. The going-in position seems clear enough: on the one hand you have Munich, still reeling from a 5-1 defeat in Wolfsburg last Saturday, and on the other hand Barca, widely regarded as the best team in the world right now.
“We know Barcelona are overwhelming favourites,” commented FCB chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge before departing for the Catalan capital. “You don’t need the gift of prophecy to predict it’ll be tough for us.” Prior to the match in front of a capacity 96,000 crowd at Camp Nou, Rummenigge called for “the right reaction” to the setback in Wolfsburg: “We’ll try and pull off a huge upset.”
Rummenigge’s fellow board director Uli Hoeneß expects “an extremely interesting and important game,” with FCB “definitely not the favourites on this occasion. However, we needn’t behave like rabbits caught in headlights,” the general manager advised. Hoeneß pointed to the history books in support of his argument: the sides have previously met twice in European competition, with the men from Munich going through to the next round on both occasions.
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