Munich – FC Bayern München welcome FC Porto to the Allianz Arena needing to overturn a two-goal deficit in order to book their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday (kick-off 20:45 CEST/ 18:45 GMT).
bundesliga.com previews what’s set to be a dramatic night in the Bavarian capital…
The stakes
Thiago Alcantara’s away goal gives Bayern hope following last week’s 3-1 first-leg reverse in Portugal. A 2-0 win is the minimum requirement to take the Bundesliga leaders through to their fourth successive semi-final, but if Porto find the net, Pep Guardiola’s side will have to score three of their own just to force extra time.
Team news: Bayern
Philipp Lahm is available after missing Saturday’s 2-0 win at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim with a stomach bug. Bastian Schweinsteiger is also in contention following a virus, while Holger Badstuber is expected to replace Dante at centre-back. Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, David Alaba, Medhi Benatia and Javi Martinez all miss out.
Team news: Porto
Nine of the 11 players that started the first leg were rested for the weekend win over Academica Coimbra. Full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro are suspended, though, while Cristian Tello is once again a major doubt through injury. Ricardo Pereira is expected to get the nod at right-back, with Bruno Martins Indi filling in on the opposite flank.
Key player: Bayern
The performance of Thiago was one of few positives to be taken from the defeat at the Estadio do Dragao. The box-to-box midfielder appears to have put his injury troubles behind him and is once again thriving as the creative force in the Bayern engine room. How he negotiates a congested Porto midfield could be key to the tie
Key player: Porto
With Rafinha and Juan Bernat the only natural wide players at Guardiola’s disposal, Bayern do look susceptible down the flanks. Mercurial forward Ricardo Quaresma made the most of defensive errors last time out, but it’s the breakaway runs of Algerian international Yacine Brahimi (pictured) that the hosts will be particularly wary of.
What they’re saying: Bayern
Guardiola: We have to take more risks than we did in the first leg. It’s not easy to overturn a 3-1 deficit. Porto have fresh legs, but it’s heads not legs that will be important.
Lahm: We know what we’re capable of. That’s why I’m convinced we’ll reach the semis.
What they’re saying: Porto
Brahimi: We couldn’t have dreamed of a better result than 3-1 [in the first leg], but we’ve still got an away game to play and it will be very, very difficult. We need to play the same way and play our own game. We’ll have to defend very well and be strong as a team.
Form
Bayern have won all four of their home games in this season’s competition by an aggregate score of 13-0. Porto are yet to lose in Europe this term, but did drop points on the road in the group stage against an FC Shakhtar Donetsk side that were thrashed 7-0 in Munich in the last 16, and also drew 1-1 at FC Basel in the previous round.
History
As well as being unbeaten in their last ten home games against Portuguese opposition (W8, D2), Bayern have won their eight previous two-legged ties against Portuguese clubs. Until last week, they had only lost to Porto once – in the 1987 European Cup final in Vienna.
Possible line-ups:
Bayern: Neuer – Rafinha, J. Boateng, Badstuber, Juan Bernat – Xabi Alonso – Rode, Thiago – M. Götze – T. Müller, Lewandowski
Porto: Fabiano Freitas – Ricardo Pereira, Maicon, Marcano, Martins Indi – Herrera, Casemiro, Oliver – Ricardo Quaresma, Jackson, Brahimi