The orange balls had already been stowed away in the cellar, but the sudden onset of winter on Monday morning in Munich ensured they had to be taken out again. Thanks to the groundsmen, who cleared the snow from the Säbener Strasse pitch in no time at all, Niko Kovac and his team were able to start their preparations for the second leg of the Round of 16 against Liverpool without any restrictions.
In addition to the long-term injured duo of Arjen Robben (calf) and Corentin Tolisso (rehabilitation training following a cruciate ligament rupture), Kovac also had to do without Thomas Müller (family reasons) and Robert Lewandowski, who worked individually in the performance centre. David Alaba and Kingsley Coman joined the team on the pitch as they'd done a day previously.
Topics of this article