Champions League Preview: Fiorentina Vs Bayern- Second Leg

Date: 9th March 2010

Venue: Stadio Artemio Franchi (capacity- 47282)

Fiorentina lost and Bayern drew in their respective league games. Fiorentina went down 2-1 to Juve while Bayern drew 1-1 with Koln.

Coming into this tie, Bayern hold a slender advantage as they won the first leg in Fiorentina 2-1.

Team News:

Injuries have started to creep into the Bayern squad. I am utterly disgusted at Louis Van Gaal's lack of rotation of the starting 11. All the changes are enforced. Ivica Olic and Mario Gomez are having a run of bad form and he still doesn't bench either of them. Miro Klose is playing as a sub in every game. He is currently not saying much; however, sooner or later he will pack his bags and head to another German club or somewhere else in Europe to see out the remainder of his career.

Diego Contento limped off against FC Koln and will be out for Tuesday's clash. Arjen Robben was unable to play this weekend and Franck Ribery came on for a cameo appearance. However, both are part of the 18-man squad Van Gaal will be taking to Italy.

Martin Demichelis will definitely be out after Michael Ballack managed to break down at least three parts of Micho's face.

Fiorentina do not have too many injury worries to deal with. Massimo Gobbi has been banned for three matches in the Champions League following his elbow on Arjen Robben in the first leg. He will thus not feature in the second leg. Adrian Mutu, as we all know, is suspended.

As a side note, Van Gaal should rotate. Hamit Altintop played a wonderful game whereas Franck Ribery offered very little on Saturday. It's time that Olic or Gomez sees bench time.

Squads:

Bayern : Butt, Rensing, Lahm, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Pranjic, Alaba, Görlitz, Altintop, Schweinsteiger, Van Bommel, Tymoshchuk, Müller, Robben, Ribéry, Klose, Gomez, Olic

Fiorentina (Probably ) :  Frey, Avramov, Kroldrup, Zanetti, Natali, Felipe, Pasqual,  Comotto, De Silvestri, Vargas, Jovetic, Gilardino, Montolivo, Bolatti, Marchioni, Donadel, Keirrison, Carraro.

Playing Style:

Fiorentina will have no choice but to attack under the Tuscan sun in Florence. They will not be able to sit back and defend on their home ground, especially if they have to score. If Cesare Prandelli watched the Bayern-Koln clash, he will know that it is better to attack Bayern rather than to defend against them. 

Bayern will thus have to be tight in defence. This is particularly worrying as Diego Contento will be out. Hamit Altintop will perhaps start at right-back sending Lahm to the left or Daniel Pranjic might start. Hamit Altintop should be the person in my opinion.

Bayern just cannot sit back and defend. On the attacking side of things, they miss plenty of chances. If they have a bad day, or an average day, tonnes of long balls come in from Schweini and Van Bommel. Bayern will really have to step up for this game.

Mental Preparation:

Fiorentina will be better prepared mentally as they know that they are going nowhere in Serie A and will want to achieve something in Europe. They will also remember the injustice they suffered in the first leg. They will thus prepare to show Bayern the exit door in style.

The draw against Koln gave Bayern something to think about. They will want to bounce back and do well. However, Bayern will remember their showing from the first leg and will have to be careful.

If a man who will perhaps not start the game is to be believed, Bayern will progress. This is what Anatoliy Tymoschuk had to say:

"We are in very good physical condition and we believe in ourselves. We need to be sharp in attack. I think we are strong enough to beat them."

“Everyone is expecting us to win a European trophy. I think it is possible with this team because we have very good players. With players of this quality we can win any tournament.”

“We knew how important that game was for us, because everything depended on it,” he remembered. “Our future in the Champions League depended on it. We played well because we concentrated on winning. You could feel the spirit.”

The Viola lost to Juve in the weekend. Bayern beat Juve last year in Turin 4-1 and they will perhaps gain confidence from that match. They had managed only a 0-0 draw at the Allianz Arena against Juve.

Prediction:

This game will depend on two factors: Bayern showing up and Fiorentina's luck. The Viola have had luck going against them ridiculously recently. Bayern have just failed to show up at times this season. To a certain extent, Van Gaal's intelligence will really be tested. It will be interesting to find out what game plan Van Gaal comes up with.

I will leave the predictions to the readers as both sides are hard to predict. Will Fiorentina go through to the quarters for the first time since 1970 or will Bayern look to challenge for their fifth trophy?