Coman & de Ligt ahead of Man City: Give everything with confidence and desire

Bayern have one of those really special nights coming up on Tuesday as the Munich club go to Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. The champions of Germany will be looking to maintain their perfect European record in 2022/23. “We’ve won every game so far this season, which is amazing, when you’ve played against such good teams,” said winger Kingsley Coman. “We’ve kept seven clean sheets in eight wins. Now we’ve got another very good opponent. Hopefully we can keep going,” added Matthijs de Ligt.

De Ligt talks PSG goal-line clearance

The Dutch centre-back helped ensure progress to the final eight with a superb last-ditch clearance in the 38th minute of the last-16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain. “It was an important moment in the game. I had the feeling we were having some problems in the first half,” described de Ligt. “The important thing was anticipation. I saw Yann [Sommer] was in trouble, so I ran towards goal. It meant I had the chance to clear. After that, you felt the energy of the stadium.” Coman also stressed the significance of that action for the whole team: “It was a good as a goal, maybe even more important. After that, you’re awake and know anything can happen.”

Five weeks on from that, Bayern take on yet another European heavyweight. “Manchester City have a very good team, with lots of quality,” de Ligt affirmed. Coman added, “They can play in behind even more with Erling Haaland. They have lots of good players on the wings. They’re a very complete team, similar to us.” When it comes to facing Pep Guardiola’s side, a key factor will be “that we do everything together. We defended together as well against PSG, against [Kylian] Mbappe, [Lionel] Messi and Neymar. It’s tough to always win one-on-one against players like that. But if you play intelligently together, everything’s possible,” de Ligt claimed.

Another important aspect ahead of late games, especially in the Champions League, is how players prepare during the day. “I love when we play in the evening. I then try to have some calm, be really relaxed, because you need to have all your energy in the evening to put in a top performance,” the 23-year-old defender explained.

Coman: “Defend with lots of energy and be very motivated”

Coman pointed out what it could well come down to at the City of Manchester Stadium: “We have to defend with lots of energy and be very motivated, play like Bayern, with confidence, desire and just give everything,” said the 26-year-old winger, who is looking to set up the tie nicely ahead of the second leg back at the Allianz Arena the following week. “If we’re on form, anything can happen. We know we can do it, but we have to give everything to win.”

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