Realistically they haven’t got a chance, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try. Bayern would need to pull off the miracle of all miracles to overcome the “out of this world” Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona, to reach the dream final in Berlin. “It needs to be one of those games where everything goes our way”, said chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge ahead of Bayern München’s Champions League semifinal second leg against Barcelona on Tuesday (20:45 CEST).
“Of course we have the quality. We haven’t given up. I want the team to want that too”, said manager Pep Guardiola on Monday. He hasn’t got his head in the clouds, “but he is a fighter. It won’t be easy, but we still have 90 minutes to play.”
Bayern go into the difficult task of overcoming a 3-0 first leg defeat on the back of four consecutive defeats. Pep has been working on a master plan following his sides hammering last Wednesday, and he hasn’t given up belief on his sides chances.
Bayern wary of Barca counter threat
Of course his side will need to attack better and create more chances than in the Camp Nou, but “attack, attack, attack? No! First we need to defend well and control the game. We need to have more of the ball than them”, underlined perfectionist Guardiola, alluding to the 4-1 defeat to Wolfsburg earlier in the season and the 4-0 loss to Real in last season’s Champions League semifinal, when Bayern were punished for their naivety in attack.
For World Champion Thomas Müller it’s not the tactics, but rather the “passion, determination and support from the fans” that will be the catalyst for the “comeback that nobody in football expects.” But be also warns that the team need to find the “right balance” between attack and defence. The tactics worked for 77 minutes in Barcelona before Messi, who Guardiola referred to as “out of this world”, and Neyman virtually destroyed Bayern’s Berlin dream.
"Anything is possible in football"
Not completely, however. Bayern will clutch at tiny straws and look back on the round of 16 and quarterfinal second-leg ties against Donetsk (7-0) and Porto (6-1) as evidence of their power to turn things in their favour. “We are FC Bayern, anything is possible in football. Until the referee blows the final whistle, we will keep believing”, things Müller bravely, pointing to the -0 defeat to Augsburg on Saturday as an example: “a long ball, penalty and a red card later and already the game has been turned on its head.”
Bayern will not want to use the fact that superstars Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, as well as David Alaba, Holger Badstuber and Sebastian Rode are all missing, as an excuse.