FC Bayern took a “huge step towards the league title” with the 1-0 win at home to FC Augsburg (Thomas Müller). With five matchdays left before the end of the season, the Reds have a nine-point lead over second-placed Borussia Dortmund. Straight after full time on Saturday, though, Bayern had already turned their attention ahead. On Tuesday (21:00 CEST), they face a real all-or-nothing clash against Villarreal CF in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.
After the 1-0 defeat in the first leg last Wednesday, victory is required in order to reach the semi-finals. “We’ll certainly have to be better on Tuesday and we will do that. The place will be rocking. Then we’ll deliver a performance that is Bayern-like,“ declared midfielder Leon Goretzka. “It always begins with the attitude, which you have to fill with the right emotionality. Then come tactics, technique and form on the day. Everyone at Bayern Munich can always muster the attitude and emotionality, and games like this provide that in their entirety. That's why I'm confident,” underlined coach Julian Nagelsmann.
For Manuel Neuer, the match against Villarreal is “a game that’s tailor-made for us. We want to use that to turn it around and progress to the semi-finals.” To do that, it will particularly depend on “bringing our power onto the pitch. We have to put them under pressure and create big chances,” continued the FCB captain. “If we play quicker, we’ll get the openings. It’s down to us,“ said top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
Attacker Thomas Müller sees advantages in the build-up to the match compared to the first leg. “We’ll be able to prepare ourselves better because we have the experience from the first leg. We’ve seen what they did well and can adapt some things which didn’t go so well in the first leg.” On top of that, “the conditions are different, a bit unusual for Villarreal. We're playing at our own stadium now. It requires full power and we're confident about that.”
With the fans behind them
Indeed, the crowd should be a big plus for Bayern at a sold-out Allianz Arena. “The euphoria is there and the atmosphere is good, which we obviously want to take advantage of,” said Neuer. With the support of their fans behind them, FC Bayern - a club that represents the never-say-die attitude like few others in European football - want to achieve another Champions League comeback.
Bayern have overturned a first-leg defeat three times before in the Champions League:
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