Bayern targeting quarter-finals with ‘fire in our bellies’ at Bayer Leverkusen

The all-German Champions League round of 16 tie returns for its second and decisive leg on Tuesday as Bayern go to Bayer Leverkusen (kick-off at 9pm CET, live coverage on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app with our text commentary and free web radio). Vincent Kompany’s men go to the BayArena holding a 3-0 aggregate lead as they look to secure their place in the quarter-finals. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the second leg in our preview.

Recap all the build-up to the game on Monday:

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This is the fifth time Bayern will face the Werkself this season. The two Bundesliga meetings ended in draws (1-1 in Munich, 0-0 in Leverkusen), while FCB were beaten 1-0 in the DFB Cup round of 16. But last week’s 3-0 win at the Allianz Arena puts the Bavarians well placed going into Tuesday’s return leg at the BayArena. Bayern have never squandered a three-goal aggregate lead in Europe, and there’s no reason to expect that fact to change.

Despite the seemingly comfortable advantage, Bayern arrive in Leverkusen focused and aware that they need to follow up their impressive first-leg display. “When you’re Bayern coach, it’s a bit easier mentally. You want to win all the time here. We want to get the result that takes us through to the next round. But when we start a game, we go in with the main priority of wanting to win it,” said Kompany at Monday’s pre-match press conference. “It’s obviously an advantage that we’ve got a 3-0 lead from the first leg, but it’s our fifth meeting with Leverkusen. They were all tight games. Regardless of the first-leg result, we want to win tomorrow and show our best side,” added Leon Goretzka.

Bayern are also out for a reaction after Saturday’s 3-2 loss at home to Bochum in the Bundesliga. “Whenever we’ve lost this season, we’ve gone into the next game with fire in our bellies. We’ll need that again on Tuesday,” said Harry Kane after the match. Max Eberl is expecting an emotional and atmospheric match. “Leverkusen will try to score goals. We need to put up a fight from the start,” the board member for sport said looking ahead to the second leg. It isn’t in Bayern’s DNA to just try and see out a lead. The team need to play their game and, in Eberl’s words, “ideally also score a goal”.

Read up on the pre-match facts:

Opponent: Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen have been excellent at home in the Champions League this season. Xabi Alonso’s side finished sixth in the league phase to qualify directly for the round of 16, winning all four fixtures so far at the BayArena. However, they did lose there on Saturday as the Bundesliga champions were beaten 2-0 by Werder Bremen. Is this tie over from a Leverkusen perspective, though? Not according to Alonso: “It’s a game where our club can go down in history if we play with great intensity, heart but also our heads.”

Kane is expecting the hosts to come out and play, drawing parallels with the Bundesliga meeting barely a month ago. “I expect Leverkusen to attack just like they did when we played away at them in the league. It was a similar situation in which they felt they had to win. We need to be ready for that.” The injury-enforced absence of playmaker Florian Wirtz also won’t change Bayern’s approach to the second leg. “It's a real shame. We hope he gets well soon. But we can’t change too much in how we prepare for the game. There are so many other players with a lot of quality. We need to perform to our best again so we can win the game,” Kompany stated.

Watch highlights from the first-leg action here:

Team news

Bayern make the trip to Leverkusen without Manuel Neuer (calf), Aleks Pavlovic (ill) and Tarek Buchmann (shoulder).

The hosts have lost Wirtz for several weeks after he sustained ankle ligament damage against Bremen at the weekend. They are also still without long-term absentees Jeanuel Belocian (knee) and Martin Terrier (Achilles), plus Nordi Mukiele after his red card in the first leg. There were question marks over Granit Xhaka and Edmond Tapsoba after they went off against Werder, but they both took part in final training alongside Robert Andrich, who’s been ill recently.

What the coaches say