German giants welcome Man City in Munich, hoping to overturn a 3-0 Champions League result
Returning to his former stomping ground without a shred of sentiment, Pep Guardiola leads his Manchester City team out for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
The Premier League champions board their flight to Germany with a 3-0 advantage under their belts from last week’s first leg, where Thomas Tuchel’s Bavarian baptism of fire continued.
The action on the field at the Etihad Stadium was striking enough without Sadio Mane allegedly striking Leroy Sane in the face after the final whistle, as a faltering Bayern Munich side were served a slice of humble pie to leave their continental dreams hanging by the thinnest of threads.
A first-half Rodri stunner preceded Bernardo Silva’s header and an obligatory goal for Erling Braut Haaland in a Manchester mauling, although a besotted Tuchel bizarrely claimed that he “fell in love” with his team, but there was no such infatuation from the ex-Chelsea boss at the weekend.
Letting a slender lead slip to draw 1-1 with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, where Andrej Kramaric cancelled out a Benjamin Pavard effort, Bayern hold just a two-point lead over Tuchel’s former club Borussia Dortmund atop the standings, and the Star of the South could very well end a season of transition with just the DFL-Supercup to their name.
So far, the board’s brash decision to part ways with Julian Nagelsmann has not been vindicated, as Tuchel has won just two of his first five games at the helm, and Bayern have just one clean sheet to show from their last seven matches - not a reassuring statistic before facing Haaland and co, and neither is a two-game winless run at the Allianz Arena.
However, it has been over three years since the hosts failed to score in a competitive fixture at the Allianz Arena - drawing 0-0 with RB Leipzig in February 2020 - but only four teams have ever progressed from a Champions League knockout tie when losing the first leg by three goals or more, and none since Liverpool’s infamous Barcelona comeback of 2019.
Another day, another page in the history books for Scandinavian sensation Haaland, who continues to delight his manager and fantasy football managers across the land during the Citizens’ remarkable end-of-season winning streak.
Following a sublime opener from John Stones against Leicester City, Haaland netted Premier League goal number 31 and 32 - equalling Mohamed Salah’s record for the most in a 38-game season - before ex-Man City striker Kelechi Iheanacho gave the forlorn away fans something to cheer.
