Bayern Munich did what many teams fail to do last week having come away with a key, 2-1 victory at Real Madrid in the first of two legs in the Champions League quarterfinals. In addition to Vincent Kompany, front office members, and the club’s hierarchy, many of the players felt they were even unlucky to have only come away from Madrid with only 2 goals with the level of dominance they showed against the La Liga giants, but even Manuel Neuer heroics saw that Álvaro Arbeloa’s side was only able to find
the back of the net once.
That was Bayern’s first victory at the Bernabéu since the 2011/12 season, but all eyes are now fixed on the retufn leg at the Allianz Arena, where Madrid are more than ready to overcome the deficit. They dropped more points in La Liga over the weekend with their 1-1 draw with Girona, meaning that their season essentially rides on the Champions League. They have little to no chance of catching Barcelona in the league and were already knocked out of the Copa del Rey in shocking fashion by virtue of a 3-2 loss to Segunda side Albacete.
For Bayern, former club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has warned the German Rekordmeister not to get too ahead of themselves or overconfident after the first leg win away from home. “We mustn’t make the mistake of letting too much euphoria arise. I’m currently noticing a bit of hype, and honestly, I don’t like that. Real Madrid have given us plenty of grief here in Munich over the years. That’s precisely why I say: We have to deliver another absolutely top performance on Wednesday. We have to be highly focused, play very smartly – and try to repeat what we showed on Tuesday,” he stressed to DAZN (via @iMiaSanMia).
Bayern have been on an impressive run across all competitions and have not lost a match of football since the shock 2-1 loss at FC Augsburg at the end of January, but none of that will matter come Wednesday evening as Rummenigge alluded to. Real Madrid also have a history of famous remontadas, so if there’s any team that can overcome a one-goal deficit at the Allianz Arena, it’s them. However, they have not won a second leg knockout match in Munich since the 2013/14 season when they won 4-0 and went on to win the competition that season.
