Pep Guardiola’s return to Barcelona as manager of the opposition could hardly have gone worse, with his Bayern Munich side completely outclassed in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of a rampant Blaugrana. The Bavarians need a miracle if they’re to come from so far back and make it into the Champions League final for the first time since they won the thing back in 2013.
Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona preview, Champions League 2015: Is there any way back for the Bavarians?
Bayern need to come from three goals down to stand any chance of making the Champions League final.
By their own standards, Bayern have been in some catastrophic form of late. They’ve lost their last four matches having only scored one goal, and have lost consecutive games in the Bundesliga for the first time since last April. When you compare that to Barça, who have dropped points only three times in all competitions this year, and this tie looks even more like it’s already over.
Team news
Bayern will still be without wingers Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben, midfielder David Alaba, centre-back Holger Badstuber and backup goalkeeper Tom Starke, though could have Sebastian Rode back available after a muscular injury. Barcelona, meanwhile, should have a full-strength team available after defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Jérémy Mathieu recovered from their respective problems.
Projected lineups (left to right)
Bayern Munich (4-3-3): Manuel Neuer; Juan Bernat, Jérôme Boateng, Medhi Benatia, Rafinha; Thiago Alcântara, Xabi Alonso, Philipp Lahm; Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller.
Barcelona (4-3-3): Marc-André ter Stegen; Jordi Alba, Javier Mascherano, Gerard Piqué, Dani Alves; Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitić; Neymar, Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi.
Key Matchups
Pep Guardiola vs. himself - Guardiola made the extremely bizarre decision of attempting to man-mark Barcelona all over the pitch in the first leg, before things went so horribly wrong that he switched it up after a few minutes. He’ll surely adopt a more risk-averse strategy in this match, or the margin of defeat could get even worse. Of course, he does need to take a few risks -- don’t be surprised to see Mario Götze come into the starting lineup -- but an early goal for Barça would completely kill the tie.
Bayern's pressing vs. the Barça counter-attack - Luis Enrique has turned Barcelona into a team as devastating on the counter-attack as they are at grinding opponents down with possession -- a style arguably less one-dimensional to the one Guardiola has so far cultivated at Bayern, which is rather more reliant on ball possession. In the first leg, Bayern failed to adequately prevent Barça from breaking forward with pace -- something they'll have to do better if they're to keep a clean sheet in this match.
Mario Götze vs. Dani Alves - Assuming Guardiola does tweak his side’s formation and gives Mario Götze a start, one of the most important battles on the pitch will be the German attacker against Barça’s Brazilian right-back Dani Alves. He’s excellent going forward but can still leave space in behind -- something which Bayern were unable to capitalise on last week, but could do so through Götze.
Prediction
Pep Guardiola is probably the greatest innovator in football at present, though it’s unlikely he’ll come up with a plan good enough to beat a Barça side that are currently looking as strong as ever. Expect a closer game than we saw in the first leg, but with Barça to comfortably progress.
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