The highly anticipated UEFA Champions League match between the two top teams resulted in a stunning victory for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City over Bayern Munich, giving their fans hope for European success.
Despite City’s impressive performance in the first leg, the second leg at Bayern Munich’s home ground, Allianz Arena, is expected to be a challenging match as the German team has won all four home matches in the UCL this season, scoring 11 goals without conceding.
However, City has a remarkable record against German opposition in the UEFA Champions League, having lost only one of their last 20 such matches and being unbeaten in nine games against Bundesliga teams in the knockout stages.
Bayern faces a tough task of becoming only the fifth team to progress from a two-legged UCL knockout tie after losing by three or more goals in the first leg. Although Bayern has only lost both legs of such a knockout stage tie twice, both times against Real Madrid, with the first loss coming under the helm of Pep Guardiola.
RECENT MEETING
Bayern Munich suffered a disastrous defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last week, with a final scoreline of 3-0.
This result equals their joint-biggest margin of defeat against an English side in all European competitions, which dates back to a 3-0 loss against Liverpool in March 1971 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Manchester City’s Rodri scored his first-ever goal in the UEFA Champions League, putting the Cityzens ahead. 44% of Rodri’s goals in all competitions for Manchester City have come from outside the box.
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Bernardo Silva scored the second goal for City, and Erling Haaland scored the third, setting the record for the most goals ever by a Premier League player in a single season.
City could have scored more, with nine shots on target in the match, the most Bayern Munich have faced in a UEFA Champions League knockout game since their 2016-17 quarter-final tie against Real Madrid.
This defeat marked Thomas Tuchel as the third manager to lose his first UEFA Champions League game in charge of the club, following Giovanni Trapattoni and Ottmar Hitzfield. However, this victory was a significant milestone for Pep Guardiola, as it marked his 99th win in the UEFA Champions League.
If Manchester City wins Wednesday’s match, Guardiola will become the third manager to reach 100 wins in the competition, alongside Carlo Ancelotti and Alex Ferguson, achieving this milestone in just 158 games.
RECENT FORM
Thomas Tuchel was left disappointed as his Bayern Munich side drew with Hoffenheim, failing to recover from their loss to Manchester City.
Bayern took an early lead through Benjamin Pavard’s goal, but it was canceled out by Andrej Kramaric’s free-kick in the second half, and Bayern couldn’t capitalize on their chances to secure a win. However, Bayern remains at the top of the Bundesliga table, as their title rivals Borussia Dortmund drew their game against Stuttgart.
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Bayern Munich has progressed to the quarter-finals of the 2022-23 UCL after winning their group and defeating PSG in the round of 16.
Manchester City, on the other hand, continued their impressive form with a comfortable win over Leicester City, making it ten wins in a row in all competitions. This victory was particularly important for City as their title rivals, Arsenal, dropped points, leaving City as the favorites to win the Premier League title with a 65.6% chance according to a supercomputer.
In addition, Manchester City is still unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League, having won six and drawn three of their nine matches. They topped their group ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, and FC Copenhagen, and went on to defeat RB Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.
With an upcoming FA Cup clash against Sheffield United, Manchester City could potentially achieve a historic treble. In contrast, Bayern Munich’s recent performances have been lackluster, but they will be hoping to turn things around as they continue their quest for the Bundesliga title and the UCL trophy.
As Germany looks set for one of the tightest title races in years, the Premier League is also gearing up for an exciting end to the season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Bayern Munich – Leroy Sane
Former Manchester City player Leroy Sane could be the star of a fairy tale story in the upcoming Bayern Munich match.
Despite his team failing to score a goal in the first leg, Sane was involved in eight of Bayern’s 12 shots, creating three chances and taking five shots. Sane’s greatest involvement, however, may have come off the field in the dressing room, where his altercation with Sadio Mane continued, leaving him with a swollen upper lip during Bayern’s draw with Hoffenheim over the weekend.
Mane is set to return alongside Sane in the line-up for the second leg, but it’s the German player who has had the greatest impact on Bayern in the UCL since last season. Sane has scored 10 goals and made seven assists, making him responsible for a combined 17 goals, which is more than any other Bayern player.
It remains to be seen if Sane will come back to haunt the club he left in 2020.
Man City – Erling Haaland
At this point there’s nothing else to say about Haaland. His 11 UEFA Champions League goals in just seven appearances this season, just one shy of the record for goals scored for a Premier League team in a single season (Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2002-03 for Man Utd, 12
PREDICTION
Not only are Manchester City heavily tipped to advance into the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, they are also favourites to emerge victorious in the second leg as well. They are given a 40.0% chance of collecting the win at the Allianz Arena, with Bayern Munich’s chances of victory in the game at 35.9%.
