The task is difficult, but not impossible: on Wednesday night (kick-off 21:00 CEST), Bayern will try to overturn a 3-0 deficit in the second leg against Manchester City at the Allianz Arena and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. To find out what the chances of the miracle are, check out the facts and figures:
1. Man City now lead head-to-head
Despite matching their opponents for a long time, Bayern went down 3-0 in the first leg in Manchester.
After the first leg, Man City lead the overall head-to-head record between the two teams with four wins to Bayern's three. However, Bayern have won six of their last seven home matches against English teams, the exception being a 3-1 loss to Liverpool in March 2019.
2. Historical examples for Bayern
Four teams in the competition's history have previously shown that it is possible to progress despite a three-goal deficit from the first leg: Deportivo La Coruña (2003/04 against Milan), Barcelona (2016/17 against Paris Saint-Germain), Roma (2017/18 against Barcelona) and Liverpool (2018/19 against Barcelona). The German record champions now want to become the fifth team on this list. Bayern themselves have proven plenty of times that they can pull off turnarounds: of the 24 knockout ties in which they lost the first leg away, the Munich men still reached the next round in 10 of those. The last time this happened was against Porto in the 2014/15 UCL campaign, when they bounced back from a 3-1 reverse in the first leg with a 6-1 triumph at home.
In the 2014/15 quarter-finals, Bayern progressed despite a 3-1 away defeat in the first leg – the fans spurred them on to a 6-1 win in the return leg.
3. Trust in home strength
Bayern have won all four of their Champions League games in front of their own fans this season, without conceding a single goal. Since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, the Reds have won 16 out of 18 home matches in Europe's premier club competition – eight of them by a scoreline that would at least be enough for extra time on Wednesday.
4. Müller on the verge of milestone
What a figure! Thomas Müller has been victorious in 99 of his 141 Champions League appearances. Another victory against City would make him only the third player in the history of the competition to reach the 100-win mark, joining Cristiano Ronaldo (115 with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus) and Iker Casillas (101 with Real Madrid and Porto). The Bavarian native would therefore become the first player to register 100 wins with one club.
Thomas Müller was denied his milestone a week ago - now it should happen in front of a home crowd.
5. Sané with extra motivation
Leroy Sané was particularly motivated at his former club in the first leg and was directly involved in eight of Bayern's 12 attempts on goal at the City of Manchester Stadium (five shots, three set-ups). In the return leg he'll be hoping to make it count again and continue his fine form in the Champions League. Since the start of last season, the winger has been involved in more goals in the competition (17) than any other FCB player.
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