Procedure at the Allianz Arena

Champion of Germany and winner of the German Cup, Bayern Munich will also be one of the great favorites of the Champions League in the Final 8 in Lisbon, to complete what seems like a mere formality this Saturday (9:00 pm) against Chelsea in the round of 16 to be played at the Allianz Arena.

The Bavarians they won 3-0 in the first leg played in London, they have not lost a match in 2020 and have crushed their national rivals for the double. Their London opponents, for their part, are feeling tired from a marathon season finale and the FA Cup final lost last Saturday against Arsenal (2-1).

“Since Hansi Flick took over the ‘Rekordmeister’ star constellation (…) much of what you see on the pitch is reminiscent of the magical year of the 2013 treble,” wrote ‘Kicker’ this week, German soccer magazine, referring to the first and so far only Champions League-Cup-Cup treble in German history. “From a quality point of view, the current squad is even better,” said Peter Hermann, an assistant at the time of the legendary coach Jupp Heynckes. The styles, yes, are slightly different. Flick’s team is a bit more attacking, while Heynckes’s, with the duo of Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben, was more compact and left less space for the rival.

If they overcome the Chelsea hurdle, the German champions will travel to Portugal to win. “If we get back to the level we reached before the holidays, we have a good chance of contesting the title,” said Uli Hoeness, former president and now honorary president of Bayern.

The only unknown is the fitness after a month off, since Bayern have not played an official match since the final of the German Cup (4-2 against Leverkusen) on July 4. The preparation games, obviously, do not solve all the doubts.

Many casualties at Chelsea

At Chelsea, manager Frank Lampard would have liked to have such a long break instead. The Englishman signals the exhaustion of his men and has dropped that he hardly believes in a miracle in Munich. Lampard will have to deal with the injuries of César Azpilicueta, Pedro and Christian Pulisic and with the sanctions of Marcos Alonso and Jorginho.

Flick, for his part, is not going to have those problems. The only one not available in their squad is the French Benjamin Pavard. Even the injured at the end of the season -Philippe Coutinho, Niklas Süle and Corentin Tolisso-, are already ready, although they lack filming.

In recent days the Bayern coach has wanted reduce the euphoria that reigns in the environment: «First we have to play against Chelsea, it will be tight. We will talk about the rest later ».

Without their audience, players will have to avoid lapses of concentration to stop the ‘blues’ and avoid a catastrophe. The experience of the locker room veterans, the survivors of the 2013 treble (Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Jérôme Boateng, David Alaba and Javi Martínez), could be vital. That season the Munich team beat another London team, Arsenal, in the round of 16, although they were close to elimination.