Champions League Quarter Final Preview: FC Barcelona Vs FC Bayern Munchen

When two of the highest scoring teams in the Champions League this season are drawn together, you know that there will be goals. With their strength in attack and frailties in defence, Bayern or Barcelona can either thrash the opposition or concede plenty themselves.

Barcelona

Form in the league: The Spanish giants lost to Espanyol and Atletico Madrid, yet there is a seven point gap between them and closest rivals Real. They are back to their very best, scoring goals and conceding due to their disinterest in defending.

They face Malaga tonight, and I have a feeling Malaga will be thrashed.

Form in the Champions League: When you play your reserves, your team is definitely going to lose in Europe. After securing top spot in the group stages, Barca sent out a bunch of kids who were beaten by an experienced Shaktar side. They scored 18 goals in the group stages alone which is fantastic.

During their so-called, though shortly lived “bad spell”, they went to the Stade de Gerland and got a draw thanks to an Henry equalizer. At the return leg, in the Nou Camp, they stamped their authority all over the French champions. They scored five and conceded two.

As a result, they scored six in the first knockout round.

Bayern Munich

Form in the league: Bayern are second in the league a point behind Hertha Berlin. A nervy but confidence-boosting win over Karlsruher is showing that Bayern can do without Luca Toni and talisman Miroslav Klose.

Podolski is now being supported by Sosa, who in the last two matches has shown plenty of glimpses of brilliance. He scored the sole goal over Karlsruher. Otherwise, they have won their last three matches in the league and are showing a bit of consistency.

Form in the Champions League: Whatever Barca can do, Bayern can do better. They matched Barcelona’s twenty four goals so far in the competition. Not only that, in the knockout stages, Barca put six past Lyon, whereas Bayern put 12 past Sporting over two legs.

They set two new records: 12-1 is the highest scoreline in a two-legged Champions League tie while 0-5 is the biggest away victory in the first knock out stage. Also, Barcelona failed to win at the Stade de Gerland but Bayern didn’t.

Paired with Lyon in the group stages, they beat Lyon in Matchday six 2-3. This can however be seen with a different outlook considering that Bayern drew 1-1 at home while Barca thrashed Lyon 5-2 at home.

Bayern also have their own Leo Messi, well, at least according to Henry, in Ribery!

Team Quotes after the draw

Joan Laporta and Karl Heinz Rummenige have to put their friendship on ice at present.

Bayern Camp

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: “Barcelona are certainly a fantastic team, and they’re favourites going into the tie. But history shows that Bayern always have a chance against Barcelona.

"I’m certain our players will rise to this terrific opportunity. Furthermore, we’ve been drawn against a friendly club, as we enjoy a very good relationship with Barcelona. I’m a personal friend of their president Joan Laporta.”

Jürgen Klinsmann: “It’s a cracking draw! Coming face-to-face with the best team in Europe and the world at the moment is a terrific challenge for us all. Their team is packed with top class players. Our challenge is to go out there as equals and fight them all the way.”

Mark van Bommel: “It’s obviously a very special draw for me. On the one hand, you look forward to playing Barcelona, but on the other hand, it’s the toughest draw we could have had.

"We should be delighted we’re playing the first leg away from home. When we run out in front of a 100,000 crowd at Camp Nou, our aim has to be not to lose, or at least not too heavily.”

Philipp Lahm: “It could have been easier. I rate Barcelona as one of the top favourites. I’d rather have avoided them in the quarter-finals. Obviously, we’re definitely in with a chance, but we’ll need two very, very good days.”

Barcelona Camp

Txiki Bergiristain “Bayern will head into the clash on an upward momentum, just like we are, and we are both alive in three competitions.We know that their style of football will give us many problems, but we have to be faithful to our own playing philosophy, although we must also play with intelligence.

"We have often demonstrated this season that we can score on the road and we must continue to do that. We must have the confidence that we can score away from home.”

Joan Laporta: "The draw has made things difficult for us because we are playing the second leg away, but the challenge is greater and will have more merit. It makes me feel bad that we have drawn Bayern Munich because of the great relationship that we have with them.

"It will be a magical night in Camp Nou."

Thierry Henry: "When there is no space, Franck can do things and with his qualities he can do damage to Barcelona, to [Real] Madrid, to Manchester United or any team.
They have a lot of players who can make the difference and score goals, such as [Miroslav] Klose, Luca Toni, or [Bastian] Schweinsteiger.

"We will try to play a good game here and then have a calm return leg, but no one knows. We lost two games, drew another, and then won one when it did not matter because they knocked us out." (When Henry was in Arsenal, these were the outcomes against Bayern.)

Daniel Alves: "We will overcome them with our quality and with our play...We expect that we will be in the next round and a step closer to the final.”

Previous Results: Barcelona has never beaten Bayern in European competition. In the UEFA Cup over two legs, Bayern won one and drew the other whereas in the Champions League in 1998, Bayern beat Barcelona in both legs, 2-1 and 1-0.

Barcelona

Strengths

Barcelona love to attack, no matter whether you are defender, a midfielder or a striker you will want to score if you are a Barca player. They play attractive eye-catching football and have Xavi pulling the strings in the midfield.

Henry, Eto’o and especially Lionel Messi can run into the box and score from different angles. Messi can be considered as the best player in the world currently and will want to prove his talent by downing the German giants.

Weaknesses

Barca love to attack, but forget to defend. Puyol is set to comeback for the Bayern game and he is their only hope. Their defence is reckless, and despite putting five past Lyon at the Nou Camp, Barca conceded two, and in all honesty those were duo to defensive lapses.

Their losses to Atletico and Espanyol were due to their defence, which lacks in height.

Bayern

Strengths

The Bayern team play attractive football and their match against Sporting showed it. Their football in Europe is eye-catching and all their players score goals. Lahm loves making runs into the opposition’s penalty area and scores some wonderful goals.

Daniel van Buyten and Martin Demichellis are always available during set pieces.

Weaknesses

The Bayern team believes in ‘scoring eight and conceding seven”. They scored against Lyon in the group stages but conceded due to their defence. Only Jamie Carragher beats Martin Demichellis’ own goal against Lyon!

Bayern’s defenders have a problem of slipping occasionally with no good or apparent reason.

Bayern can either be clinical or extremely wasteful in front of goal. In the Bundesliga, I have seen them squander millions of chances and fail to win as a result.

They do not lack height in defence, but I prefer seeing Lell ahead of Oddo. Oddo is a good player but Lell is faster and more mobile. Against Barca, Lell’s services will be required more than Oddo’s.

How either team can win the tie

The teams play a similar brand of football and they both have to bolster their defences ahead of the tie in Nou Camp. Bayern have to avoid getting thrashed while Barcelona have to avoid conceding an away goal.

If Bayern can be really clinical like usual German teams and take a slightly defensive approach, they could come into the Allianz Arena with a few away goals. Demichellis will have to man-mark Messi while Van Bommel can man-mark Xavi in midfield.

The draw will be decided at the Allianz Arena where Bayern cannot afford to concede. Regarding all this, Bayern could just nick the tie on the away-goals rule.

Barcelona don’t know how to defend properly at times! Puyol is a class of his own, but on the other hand, I doubt Marquez and keeper Valdez. They basically have to concentrate on breaking down Lucio/Demichellis and Van Buyten depending on who plays. Getting past Lahm isn’t easy either despite his size.

However, when you look at the way in which Werder broke down Bayern, the job might not prove to be too difficult.

Players to Watch

Barcelona: Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandes

Xavi’s work sometimes goes unnoticed, yet it is he who will be one of the most important players in the Nou Camp. If he can break through the midfield and place in passes for Messi and the other forwards, Barcelona will definitely score quite a few goals.

Bayern: Ze Roberto and Jose Ernesto Sosa

Ze Roberto when playing on the wing is lethal. If he is at his best, he will have to be man-marked strongly. Ribery is a known threat and while the Barca defence might be busy blocking him, Ze Roberto will look to take advantage.

Sosa is relatively unknown, but he has been pushed onto the big stage due to Klose and Toni’s injury  problems. He ran havoc in the two previous matches. He is also playing in his favourite position, right behind the striker at the moment.

I believe he can shine on the big stage and cause Barca some problems.

Prediction: Klose is out for a long time due to his ankle injury while Toni is relatively inexperienced in the Champions League. With Bayern’s defensive problems, they are most probably going to lose. I hate to say this, but I just can’t see Bayern controlling Barca’s attack and scoring too many without Klose.

I am an avid Bayern supporter, but I can’t predict a win or a draw at the Nou Camp for them. They might however get the job done as they show a different face in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga.

Also, history is favouring Munchen.

Final Score: I will pass. It’s too difficult even to make a prediction for this one.