5 reasons Bayern Munich can beat Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League Last 16
After a goalless draw at Anfield, Bayern Munich meet Liverpool in their UEFA Champions League last-16 second-leg at Allianz Arena on March 13 with the familiar figure of Jürgen Klopp hoping to orchestrate their downfall.
But Niko Kovac's men have — as always — hit form just at the right moment, and buoyed by their draw on Merseyside, bundesliga.com gives you five key reasons the Bundesliga's record champions can come out on top.
1) Lewandowski learned Klopp's lessons
"He released that striker's instinct in me," is how Robert Lewandowski described the contribution Jürgen Klopp made to his career during four seasons at Borussia Dortmund together. With his former protege now having netted 197 goals in 281 Bundesliga games, the Liverpool manager may live to regret his efforts in awakening the insatiable goalscoring beast lurking inside the Poland international.
Lewandowski has four goals from his previous two Bundesliga outings to take his league tally to 17 in 24 appearances, while he showed in the group stage that if you let him get too close, his cutting edge will draw more than just first blood.
His eight group-stage goals were a competition high, with half of them coming at home. Lewandowski also became the first man to 100 competitive goals at the Allianz last month and the Pole could prove the difference maker in the surrounds of his happiest hunting ground.
Watch: Lewandowski grabs five goals in nine minutes
"I'm pleased with how we played today, that was a good game for the Champions League," the 30-year-old said this weekend after Bayern saw off Wolfsburg with what Lewandowski believes was the perfect preparation for facing Liverpool.
2) Niklas Süle vs. Roberto Firmino
When Niklas Süle came off the bench to replace Andreas Ludwig for his Bundesliga debut in a 4-1 loss to Hamburg on Matchday 33 of the 2012/13 campaign, he was just a footnote for the stat-obsessed while his Hoffenheim teammate Roberto Firmino was already a star-in-the making.
The Brazilian, who left the Rhein Neckar Arena for Anfield in 2015, probably does not even remember that game, but his reunion with his ex-teammate is likely to live much longer in the memory. And not for the happiest of reasons.
While Firmino has developed into one of the continent's most feared attackers, if there is one defender who will not be bowed, it is Süle.
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“When I look at Süle, he's going to be a superb player, world class,” beamed Jupp Heynckes, still Bayern coach when they closed the deal to bring the 6'5" barn door of a centre-back to the Allianz Arena. “In a couple of years, he'll be the most sought-after central defender in Europe."
The potential Heynckes saw has stood out this season with Süle the one solid constant in the middle of the Bayern back four with Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng faltering with fitness and form.
True, Süle has Sadio Mane and Mo Salah to keep a watchful eye on too — the terrifying pace at which he can propel his imposing frame will be more than a 'power up' against those two — but if he can muzzle Firmino, snapping the strings the ex-Hoffenheim man usually pulls in freeing his fellow forwards, he will have given Bayern a potentially tie-turning edge.
3) Magical midfield
Klopp claimed ahead of the first leg that he would have bought tickets himself to watch the game if he had not been involved. And the trio Bayern used to shutdown Liverpool's engine room in the first leg — Javi Martinez, James Rodriguez, Thiago Alcantara — are surely three players he would happily pay to see; even if he wouldn't want to admit to that right now.
All three were superb in the first encounter; Martinez closing space and winning possession, allowing Thiago and James to orchestrate the Bayern attack with metronomic distribution.
James' ability to keep a cool head in the stiflingly frantic climes of an opponents' final third make him the ideal man to not only tee up Lewandowski but also bring Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry into play on the flanks.
Gnabry has scored in each of his previous two Bundesliga games, while Coman has returned from injury in the sort of form that makes him a devastating agent provocateur and Martinez provided the foundation for his forward thinking teammates to express themselves.
Thiago's influence is also unmistakable. The Spain international's superhero-standard vision with the passing skills to match make him a deep-lying playmaker in the style of Andrea Pirlo, the pioneer of the art.
But his willingness also to put in a shift for the side means he will find space to allow his defenders to play the ball out from the back, sneaking through the shackles Klopp will try to impose on them with his team's pressing.
Sure of touch under pressure, expect the ex-Barcelona midfielder to show just why Pep Guardiola placed his name top of his 'wanted' list when the now-Manchester City boss was appointed at Bayern in 2013.
If that wasn't enough, Leon Goretzka - who missed the first leg with an ankle sprain - could return to the lineup and add even greater potency as arguably Bayern's most in-form player.
"There are players that have a few problems in their first year at Bayern, because it's a big change," said Goretzka, who joined from Schalke last summer, recently. "I think that I have managed to overcome that quite well."
As artful in understatement as he has been eye-catching on the pitch, the Germany international will surely remind Liverpool fans of the Reds' iconic ex-captain Steven Gerrard: roving in support of Lewandowski one moment and racing back to help dig his team out of a hole the next.
4) The full-back battle
It is not the sexiest of positions on the pitch, but the duel between David Alaba and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the Bayern left leaves us thirsty at the prospect of a battle that may decide who reaches the last eight.
Like his Bayern counterpart, the Liverpool full-back provides a significant attacking threat, and while the Merseysiders' Andrew Robertson was this week dubbed as the "best left-back in Europe" by former England international Phil Neville, Alaba will have the perfect opportunity to remind the ex Manchester United man of who the continent's premier left back really is.
The frightening pace, immense physicality, marauding runs and almost telepathic understanding Alaba shares with the wingers causing havoc in front of him have made Alaba into one of the best left-backs in the world. Throw in a sublime left foot swinging in potent crosses and devastating set pieces and you have one imposing threat to Liverpool's defence.
If the 26-year-old Austrian can also keep Alexander-Arnold busy going backwards, he will significantly reduce the young right-back's threat going forwards.
5) Germany's loss, Bayern's gain
Germany coach Joachim Löw raised eyebrows last week as he put out to pasture 2014 FIFA World Cup heroes Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng. It shocked many and prompted Kimmich to say: “I know the national team only with these three players. Over the past 10 years, they have shaped the team and made us world champions."
And while the legendary trio will have been disappointed, they channeled any frustration into a dominant victory over Wolfsburg that will serve as a warning to Bayern's rivals.
Müller found the net, while Hummels and Boateng combined to register a clean sheet. And while Müller misses out against Liverpool due to suspension, Bayern will surely benefit from their desire to prove Löw wrong and the added freshness that will be gained from not having to travel the world on international duty in between Bundesliga Matchdays.
Kovac is already delighted with his three discarded charges, saying post-Wolfsburg: "You saw the performance the three delivered. That was very good and what we expect from them, I was sure of it. The way they turned it into positive energy today speaks for them, as players and as people."
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