Big European night in Milan
Sun | 13/04/25 | 16:59
Müller to equal Messi? These facts offer hope for the quarter-final second leg
The target is clear: FC Bayern want to make it through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League this Wednesday in the eagerly anticipated quarter-final second leg at Inter Milan! “It’s not like we need a miracle,” said Joshua Kimmich after the 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. “We only have to win one match. We should go into it with that mindset. Everyone in the dressing room believes we can win in Milan.”
Even though Inter beat Bayern 2-1 in Munich last Tuesday, almost all the stats at the end of an intense encounter were in favour of FCB: 20-10 attempts, 2.3 to 0.8 expected goals and 49 to 18 penalty area touches. With better chance conversion, there’s no reason the Reds can’t progress at the San Siro. Read our summary for more encouraging stats.
Away to Inter – there’s hope
The recent record between these two European heavyweights is evenly matched, with three wins apiece in the last six meetings. The interesting thing about that: only once has either side won at home, namely FCB in 2022 (2-0). What’s more, Bayern have won all four of their European away games at Inter Milan, including all three in the Champions League – without conceding a single goal. FCB won 2-0 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in 2006, 1-0 thanks to Mario Gómez’s last-minute strike in 2011 and 2-0 again in 2022. This run can happily continue! Incidentally, Inter have not suffered so many consecutive home defeats against any other opponents on the European stage.
FC Bayern won 2-0 on their last visit to Inter Milan in September 2022, thanks in part to an outstanding effort from Leroy Sané. | © Imago
Do all good things come in three? Thanks to the 2-1 win at Celtic in the play-offs and the impressive 2-0 success at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the round of 16, Bayern have claimed back-to-back away wins in the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in four years. The hat-trick is obviously the aim at the San Siro on Wednesday.
Appropriately enough, the last time the Reds lost the first leg in a knockout tie was against an Italian team. In the round of 16 in 2023/24, Kimmich and Co suffered an unfortunate 1-0 reverse at Lazio but turned the result around in Munich thanks to a commanding 3-0 victory. Harry Kane with a brace and veteran Thomas Müller were responsible for the goals. Do it again, boys!
Record man Thomas Müller
Talking of Müller: if Bayern’s number 25 features in Milan on Wednesday night, he will draw level with another football legend. With what would be his 163rd appearance in the Champions League, he’ll be joint with Argentinian Lionel Messi in the all-time list, with only Iker Casillas (177) and Cristiano Ronaldo (183) ahead of the native Bavarian. Müller already got the Allianz Arena rocking with his equaliser in the first leg, his 57th goal in Europe’s premier club competition moving him ahead of Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy in the all-time leaderboard. Only five players – Raúl, Karim Benzema, Lewandowski, Messi and Ronaldo (140) – have more UCL goals to their name,
Thomas Müller's equaliser to briefly make it 1-1 in the first leg set more records. | © FC Bayern
Including assists, the 35-year-old has now been directly involved in 82 goals in the best club competition in the world – no player has registered more in a Bayern shirt. Müller currently shares this record with his former partner in crime Lewandowski. The attacker’s strike in the first leg also made him the club’s oldest goalscorer in the knockout phase of the Champions League at 35 years and 207 days, and the second-oldest German goalscorer in the competition after Ulf Kirsten (36 years, 77 days).
Not forgetting Inter threat
Of course, these statistics don’t change the fact that Bayern face an extremely tight, settled and strong Inter Milan team on Wednesday. The Serie A leaders are unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions, 13 home games and even 14 outings (W12, D2) in front of their own fans in the Champions League. In fact, the Nerazzurri’s last European defeat at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza was in 2022 against Bayern, courtesy of an own goal and a strike by the excellent Leroy Sané.
Other numbers that reveal Milan’s strong form: Simone Inzaghi’s charges made it five UCL wins in a row in Munich – something they last achieved on the way to the treble in the 2009/10 season. Moreover, the men from the capital of Lombardy have conceded a mere three goals in the current Champions League campaign, and have advanced in 20 of the 21 cases in which they’ve won the first leg away from home in the knockout rounds. However, the one exception should give all Bayern fans hope, as it was none other than the German record champions who knocked Inter out in this scenario in the third round of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup. After a 2-0 defeat at Munich’s Olympiastadion, FCB managed to triumph 3-1 in Milan and progressed thanks to the old away goals rule. Even though Kimmich doesn’t want to talk of miracles, this spirit of the ‘Miracle of Milan’ in 1988 can still be carried into the northern Italian city this week.
Inter warmed up for Wednesday’s second leg with a win:
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