UEFA Champions League 2014-15 | ||
Bayern Munich |
vs | FC Porto |
ScheduleTuesday, 21 April 2015 at 18:45 GMT / 19:45 UK / 00:15 IST VenueAllianz Arena (Munich) |
Next Tuesday, 21st of April 2015, the current German champions and all-powerful Bayern Munich will entertain FC Porto at the Allianz Arena for the second leg of the Quarter-finals stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Last Wednesday’s match at Estádio Dragão will certainly be cherished forever in the minds of the FC Porto supporters. The two-time European champions reduced Bayern to dust thanks to a vintage performance and due to an unusual amount of defensive mistakes from Pep Guardiola’s team. Led by Ricardo Quaresma and Jackson Martinez, the Portuguese team took advantage of Dante, Boateng and Xabi Alonso’s constant slipups and, with just 10 minutes played, they were already in the lead by 2-0. Thiago Alcantara managed to bring Bayern back in the game on the 28th minute, but the Germans’ reaction didn’t last long as FC Porto dominated the entire second-half and still found a way to net in the third goal by the Colombian sharpshooter Jackson Martinez.
The Portuguese side are living the dream and will walk into Allianz Arena next Tuesday with the intention of “kicking” Bayern out of the competition. FC Porto remain unbeaten at the UEFA Champions League this season and are currently in a good streak with four consecutive wins on the same respective amount of matches. The absences of the Brazilian full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro will certainly be a major blow for the Dragons, but such fact will surely not hamper their motivation levels and the bravery they have shown last week when playing at home.
As for Bayern, much has been said about their poor performance and unusual defensive mistakes since last week’s match and it will be interesting to see what strategy Pep Guardiola will mount to overcome FC Porto on Tuesday. Bayern are simply not used to being pushed against the ropes anymore and every time a team does that, they tend to experience several difficulties to build up their game, precisely what happened at Estádio do Dragão last Wednesday.
Despite being in disadvantage, Bayern have everything in the favour to beat the mighty Portuguese side this week, but in order to do achieve that result, they need to create something very different from what did on the first-leg match.
Regardless of what happened last week, Bayern are favourites to win the upcoming clash, although, they will need to dig very deep if they want to overcome the brave Julen Lopetegui’s men.
Bayern Munich
Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0
Recent Form - WLWWW
FC Porto
Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0
Recent Form - WWWWL
Possible Line-ups
Bayern Munich (3-4-3) – Neuer - Rafinha - Badstuber - Dante - Bernat - Xabi Alonso - Rode - Alcantara - Götze - Müller - Lewandowski
FC Porto (4-3-3) - Fabiano - Ricardo - Indi - Maicon - Marcano - Casemiro - Herrera - Oliver Torres - Quaresma - Brahimi - Jackson Martinez
Bayern Munich
Arjen Robben (inj)
Franck Ribery (inj)
David Alaba (inj)
Javi Martinez (inj)
Mehdi Benatia (inj)
Philipp Lahm (inj)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (inj) (in doubt)
FC Porto
Danilo (sus)
Alex Sandro (sus)
Cristian Tello (inj)
15.04.15 | CHA | FC Porto | Bayern Munich | 3 : 1 |
18.04.00 | CHA | Bayern Munich | FC Porto | 2 : 1 |
03.04.00 | CHA | FC Porto | Bayern Munich | 1 : 1 |
19.03.91 | CHA | FC Porto | Bayern Munich | 0 : 2 |
Bayern Munich
Robert Lewandowski
Manuel Neuer
Thomas Müller
FC Porto
Ricardo Quaresma
Jackson Martinez
Yacine Brahimi
Bayern Munich
FC Porto
Bayern Munich 1 FC Porto 1
Bayern Munich 2 FC Porto 1
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