It's a day that will go down in the history books of the FC Bayern U19 team! Thanks to a 3-2 win over Feyenoord, the German record champions' youngsters progressed to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League for the first time on Wednesday. "I'm very proud of what the boys have achieved today," summarised head coach René Marić. "They've now got at least one more match in the Youth League, which is obviously great."
René Marić has led the U19s to a first Youth League quarter-final.
Bayern went through a real rollercoaster of emotions to get there. The Bavarians made a blistering start to the game and took what seemed a comfortable 3-0 lead into the break thanks to goals from Benedikt Wimmer, Javier Fernández and Emirhan Demircan. However, Feyenoord didn't give up and fought back to make it 3-2 within four minutes early in the second half, Fabiano Rust (52') and Djomar Giersthove (55') scoring the goals. It was a battle of nerves after that, which Bayern won through strong character and desire. Goalkeeper Max Schmitt emerged as the hero of the day in the final quarter of an hour with numerous saves and one brilliant effort in added time to secure the victory.
Max Schmitt played a crucial role in the U19s' win over Feyenoord.
Olympiacos await
Having narrowly fallen at the last-16 stage in 2018 (against Real Madrid) and 2020 (against Dinamo Zagreb), the Reds have made it through to the round of the last eight teams for the first time. Now the FCB U19s face their counterparts from Greek record champions Olympiacos, who saw off French side RC Lens (4-2 on penalties). The quarter-final clash will be played on 12 or 13 March, and the Munich boys can again count on the support of their fans at the FC Bayern Campus as it will be another home match.
We spoke with Lovro Zvonarek before the game:
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