With Bayern Munich’s comprehensive 5-0 win at St. Pauli and Borussia Dortmund’s loss to Bayer Leverkusen over the weekend, the Bundesliga title is essentially wrapped up. The German Rekordmeister have been in the top spot of the league table virtually all season and will be more than deserving of lifting yet another Meisterschale next month.
There’s still other silverware to win, though, and Bayern have the small matter of winning a second leg against Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena to secure advancement
to the Champions League semifinals for the first time since 2023/24 season, where it was the La Liga giants that knocked them out over the course of two legs and beat Dortmund in the final at Wembley.
With the evidence on display from the first leg that Bayern won 2-1 at the Bernabéu, there’s no reason to suggest that Vincent Kompany’s men can’t get the job done in Munich, as they very easily could’ve scored more than twice. However, it was a world class performance from Manuel Neuer that held Alvaro Arbeloa’s side to only one goal and former club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has warned Bayern not to bee too overconfident of the second leg.
After the win at the Millerntor-Stadion vs. St. Pauli on Saturday, Leon Goretzka offered a reply to Rummenigge’s call for wariness. “We don’t need to be warned. We know exactly who we’re playing against and what kind of game it is. We saw in the first leg how quickly they can create chances. So nobody needs to warn us. We’re aware of that ourselves,” the scorer of Bayern’s record-breaking 102nd goal of the season confidently told Bild (via @iMiaSanMia).
Goretzka and Bayern will be more than well aware of the threats that Madrid pose, particularly on the counter attack, where they found most of their joy in the first leg through Vinícius Junior and Kylian Mbappé. Arbeloa will also be without Aurélien Tchouaméni for the second leg through cumulative yellow cards suspension, and Bayern will remember how much more of a foothold Madrid were able to have in the second half of leg one when Jude Bellingham and Éder Militão entered proceedings, the former of which replaced Thiago Pinar, but could start in place of Tchouaméni Tuesday night.
Either way, it’s incredibly hard to argue against Bayern’s current form and momentum, despite the history this fixture holds and Real Madrid’s uncanny ability to produce remarkable remontadas. It’s all to play for and both teams don’t need extra explaining of what’s at stake.
