Bayern has been Barça’s black beast in Europe for the last two seasons, but the change of face of the Blaugrana team, which is making a practically perfect start to the season with a stellar Robert Lewandowski, means that today’s duel ‘Allianz is no longer afraid. The game will be key in a group that also includes Inter. Bayern and Barcelona won in their European opener and, if one of the two wins today, they will take an important step towards the classification and, in return, the leadership.
Last season, Bayern and Barça already met in the group stage. The Bavarian team did not give the Blaugrana any options, with a 0-3 at the Camp Nou and a 3-0 at the Allianz Arena, a defeat that certified the elimination of the team already coached by Xavi Hernández. Even more traumatic for Barça was the quarter-final duel of the 2020-2021 academic year, a tie that was played as a single match in Lisbon due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bayern razed with an unappealable 2-8 that cracked the morale of the Catalan team. A few days later, Leo Messi sent a burofax asking for his departure.
Despite the bad omens, Barça still with guarantees the party convinced that it can break the stalemate. And the main culprit is precisely a former Bayern player, Lewandowski. The Pole has nine goals in six games at the start of the season and will be Barça’s main weapon to achieve a victory that would certify that this team can aspire to everything after the revolution it has experienced this summer. In addition, Xavi is not absent due to injury or suspension because Sergi Roberto has already recovered from the discomfort that caused him to be absent from the Cadiz field.
Koundé, Eric García, Pedri, Lewandowski and Dembélé were substitutes on Saturday in Cadiz with Bayern in mind. All five will start at the Allianz Arena, where a Bayern immersed in a hole in results and performance – three consecutive draws in the Bundesliga – awaits. In the middle of the last two draws that have caused him to lose the lead against Union Berlin and Stuttgart, however, he prevailed clearly by 0-2 in the Inter field. In any case, Bayern come to today’s game with a desire to claim, with a little anger at the results and also with high competition for some places in the starting line-up. The Frenchman Coman is out due to a muscle injury. An important absence. Manager Julian Nagelsmann is likely to stick with the 4-2-2-2 that has given him success in the opening games. Mané and Müller will play in attack while Musiala and Sané will be the midfielders.
