Robert Lewandowski Doubt Can't Mask Bayern Need for Goals vs. Barcelona

Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola was in a guarded mood when he addressed the media at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, ahead of his side's Champions League first-leg semi-final with Barcelona on Wednesday night. 

Many of the questions fired at the Spaniard revolved around his time as manager of the Catalonian side, followed by enquiries as to whether Robert Lewandowski would be fit enough to play, yet one answer stood out above all else. Lewandowski has trained with a face mask after suffering a broken nose and jaw last Tuesday in a DFB-Pokal semi-final against Borussia Dortmund. 

"It's almost impossible for us to qualify for the final if we do not score tomorrow," declared the Bayern coach, via the Barcelona website. "We will defend but also attack."

Such a comment, made just one day before the game, will have perhaps struck most fans by surprise considering the usual habit of Bayern—especially under Guardiola—often concluding that the fat lady doesn't sing until they've had a go at it in front of their own fans in the Allianz Arena the following Tuesday. 

What will also mystify most of the Bayern support is the fact that such a conclusive comment surely does no good to the team morale if indeed their only competent striker is ruled out of the game. Guardiola has just demanded at least a goal on Wednesday night with the possibility of no strikers to pick from. 

So what if Lewandowski can't play? Where will these goals come from?

According to WhoScored.com, the Polish international has contributed five goals and two assists in 10 Champions League appearances this season, making him an undoubted source of goals in the continental competition.

Add to that three goals from Franck Ribery and two from Arjen Robben—neither of whom will feature on Wednesday—and you have a real lack of goalscoring talent up front for the club. Yet there are alternatives.

If Lewandowski is indeed dropped, Guardiola will most likely turn to Thomas Muller to play as the lone striker in Bayern's usual 4-3-3 formation, with Mario Gotze playing just off him alongside Thiago Alcantara. 

Muller is a proven goalscorer with 20 goals to his name this season, yet often prefers playing on the right of the attack or at least given the freedom to wander around the final third. Whether the German international can do that when asked to play as a target man remains to be seen. 

Regardless, Bayern and Guardiola won't really have much of a choice. The only real alternative would be to play Gotze as a false No. 9—a ploy that has failed to work for club and country over the past few years—or to indeed call in 36-year-old Claudio Pizarro. 

With both Ribery and Robben out injured, Bayern will almost certainly look to flood the midfield with the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xabi Alonso, Philipp Lahm and Thiago. Although the latter two can play wide and hug the touchline, it would make sense for the Bayern coach to ensure nothing got through the middle of the pitch and on to Lionel Messi and Co. further up the park. 

This would then suggest that Gotze will be given a little more freedom to push further up the park and ensure Muller doesn't get too isolated among the Barca defence.

Although the 22-year-old has often underwhelmed in the league this season, he has tended to rise to the occasion on the bigger, more elaborate European nights. Four goals and an assist in nine Champions League games this season may not be much compared to the likes of Messi and Neymar, but it's also a tally that Luis Enrique will have noticed.

If Muller can't provide much of a goal threat on the night, it may be the young attacking midfielder who pops up to turn the tie in Bayern's favour. 

In truth, we won't know just how well Bayern do on the night until we find out whether Lewandowski is indeed set to play. Yet should the Pole miss out on this biggest of games, Guardiola may just be able to grab that important goal from elsewhere.