5 reasons Bayern Munich will beat Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League - again!
Bayern Munich may be ensured of finishing as winners of Group A, but they have every incentive to go out to win at Old Trafford - a ground star striker Harry Kane and coach Thomas Tuchel know very well.
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bundesliga.com offers five reasons why Bayern can sign out of the group stage with a statement win in Manchester.
1) Harry's back
Granted, Bayern goalscoring phenomenon Kane doesn't need much added motivation to fire his huge appetite for goals. His first club return to an English ground after he swapped the Premier League for the Bundesliga in the summer is sure to be a special occasion, however.
Watch: Harry Kane wins November Goal of the Month!
2) Tuchel is back
He may have gained a reputation as one of the smartest coaches in world football while at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, but it was during a stint in the English Premier League that Thomas Tuchel celebrated his biggest achievement to date when he led Chelsea to Champions League glory within months of taking charge in 2021.
Watch: Tuchel's Road to Munich
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Tuchel has taken three wins out of eight as a coach against Manchester United, which he surely would love to improve upon given his own high expectations. The trip to the north of England also gives Tuchel the chance to show a wider audience just what a lean, mean goalscoring machine he has put together in his first year as Bayern boss.
3) Rewriting history books
Bayern's phenomenal run of a record 17 successive Champions League group stage victories was ended by a 0-0 draw at home to Copenhagen a fortnight ago. The Bundesliga champions still have a couple of competition records they could extend with a result in Manchester. Bayern are on the brink of making it 40 group stage matches unbeaten in a mind-boggling run stretching back to 2017.
Bayern's 3-1 win over Galatasaray in Istanbul in October also extended their barnstorming record run of eight away group stage wins, and they have a chance to make that best mark even sweeter with a win at Old Trafford. The legendary Thomas Müller can also extend his record of most appearances for a German player in the Champions League (146).
4) Eyes on the prize
Bayern have every reason to be proud of yet another resounding success in the group stage, but their runaway Group A win will only take them one step towards their main aim - lifting the Champions League for the first time since 2020. As well as a possible confidence boost, a win in England would send Manchester United - who have traditionally been one of Bayern's main rivals for the European crown - out of the competition.
While there would be many who dispute how seriously Manchester United could compete for the right to be crowned European champions in the current campaign, Tuchel might be wary of how quickly teams can be transformed - few expected him to guide Chelsea to victory in 2021, after all, when he took charge that January.
5) Pressure on the hosts
There is no doubt that United go into the final group stage match in a precarious position. They need to beat Bayern and hope Copenhagen and Galatasaray draw in order to progress. That fact is sure to influence the encounter massively - both emotionally and tactically.
Should the game start to turn away from United, the pressure and frustration set in, Bayern are arguably capable of exploiting that situation better than any other team in the business. Just cast your mind back to Bayern's 8-2 trouncing of Barcelona in the 2019/20 Champions League quarter-finals - a result that some would say the Catalans are still reeling from to this day.
And while Bayern may be suffering a hangover from an unexpected first Bundesliga defeat of the season at the weekend, the pressure is arguably even greater on United after they were humbled 3-0 at home by Bournemouth on Saturday. That result combined with early elimination from Europe does not even bear thinking about for the Reds Devils.
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