5 reasons Bayern Munich will beat Benfica in the UEFA Champions League
Bayern Munich will be out to bounce back on the continental stage when they play host to Portuguese giants Benfica at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, and Vincent Kompany's men have plenty of reasons to believe they can do just that.
Bayern find themselves in unfamiliar territory in the Champions League this season. Their mammoth 9-2 opening-day win over Dinamo Zagreb stood in contrast to their last two continental outings: a 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa and a 4-1 loss in Barcelona last time out.
The need to add a touch of some of their dominant Bundesliga form of late to the European campaign is high, and bundesliga.com believes the record German champions are more than up to the task. Here's why ...
1) Hurricane Harry Kane the talk of Europe
After finishing his first season in Germany as the Bundesliga's top scorer with 36 goals, Kane has carried on where he left off - scoring left, right and centre. The England striker is leading the scoring charts again this season with 11 goals in nine Bundesliga games so far, just one away from his tally at this same point last season. He also has two hat-tricks already this season having managed four in total last season, whilst he also currently sits on five assists, which puts him in joint second in the league and just three away from last season's total.
Watch: Kane was in ominous form again at the weekend
Kane's ferocious hunger for goals shows no sign of slowing down, with his European outings this season also returning an impressive Champions League-best five goals in three games, including four in one game against Dinamo Zagreb. With Kane fit and firing, it'll take an enormous effort from Benfica to keep him quiet on Wednesday.
2) Winning experience against Benfica
Bayern utterly dominate the head-to-head record against their Portuguese counterparts, with seven wins for zero defeats in their ten encounters in Europe's top club competition. The remaining three matches were all draws, the last of which came in the second leg of the quarter-finals back in 2016.
In their four meetings with the Eagles since then, Bayern have won four times, scoring 16 goals (including two five-goal hauls each time they met at the Allianz Arena) and conceding just three. It's hard to imagine a more dominant scenario between clubs who have both won the competition in the past.
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3) Wounded giants
Bayern will be out to set the record straight in Europe after a troubling evening in Barcelona on Matchday 3, which itself came on the back of a narrow defeat to Aston Villa in European competition. Kompany's men have won all of their outings since their rough night at the Nou Camp: a 5-0 league win in Bochum was followed by a 4-0 DFB Cup victory in Mainz. Then came Saturday's 3-0 triumph against Union. Those three wins with 12 goals scored and none conceded have team morale high among Kompany's crew.
Bayern haven't lost at home in the Champions League since April 2021 (3-2 to PSG in a first-leg quarter-final) and they have never lost three times in a row in a single Champions League campaign since it switched to the modern format.
Watch: what makes Harry Kane so good?
4) Musiala scoring headers, Olise hitting free-kicks
Bayern currently sit top of the Bundesliga scoring charts, with 32 goals scored in their opening nine games. While a certain centre-forward has had a big part to play in that number, so have the rest of their attacking arsenal.
This includes Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise, two young stars who have set the Bundesliga alight in these opening weeks. Both provide tremendous dribbling ability, directness, superb vision and of course, goals. Musiala has contributed four goals and one assist this season, while Olise has five goals and two assists in his debut campaign.
With these two on the pitch, chances are guaranteed to flow and Benfica will certainly have their hands full with these midfield magicians.
Watch: get your Jamal Musiala goals fix
5) Awesome strength in depth
Bayern's most recent league victory against Union Berlin saw Kingsley Coman get on the scoresheet. The Frenchman has won eight Bundesliga titles, three DFB Cups and a Champions League title with the Bavarians, in addition to the small matter of winning the 2018 World Cup, and yet he has started five of the nine Bundesliga games this season on the bench.
Coman has been in fine form, with three goals and two assists in the league so far; his battle for a starting spot speaks to the incredible depth on the Bayern bench. Coman's start against Union on the weekend meant that Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané missed out on that final spot out on the wing, while Bayern's record appearance holder Thomas Müller and midfield general Leon Goretzka also had to settle for a spot on the bench. With so much quality to choose from, Bayern will be able to field an intimidating eleven regardless of how they piece it together.
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