Playing a German team away in the Champions League is becoming a common theme for Manchester City. This season is the fourth consecutive year in the Champions League, and each time has seen us face a German side in the groups – Bayern Munich three times (with this year being the third) and Borussia Dortmund once too. On Wednesday night, City make their latest visit to Germany and the Allianz Arena as The Blues look to kick off their Champions League campaign in style.
The clashes between Bayern and City last season were two very different stories and results. In contrary to this season, the first competitive meeting (Bayern and The Blues met in a pre-season friendly, with the Bavarians winning) took place in Manchester. However, as reigning champions from the previous year, Bayern emerged as the 3-1 victors with goals from Ribéry, Müller and Robben showing why Bayern were – at the time anyway – the best team in the world. Álvaro Negredo scored the solitary City goal that day.
Two months later in Munich, it was a very different story for City fans. With qualification for the knockout stages already secured for the first time in three years, few expected City to salvage anything from a tough away fixture that mattered very little; even fewer expected them to get a result after The Blues went 2-0 down inside 12 minutes thanks to goals from Müller and Götze. Somehow though, City put together a sterling comeback to win 3-2 against all odds; this came after goals from David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov and then a winner from James Milner.
With City having been once again drawn into a tough Champions League group despite the respite of a relatively easy draw last time round, Wednesday’s game could end up being crucial for The Blues. After this, City still have to visit Rome and Moscow, which won’t be easy places to go. Unfortunately, neither will Bayern, as they proved last year.
How Pellegrini will set up could be an interesting one. There are reasons to suggest he’ll go out for a draw, conserving his players ahead of the Chelsea game next weekend and also playing it safe until AS Roma visit The Etihad in just over two weeks. Alternatively, Pellegrini could go out for the win, playing several of City’s star-studded squad that aren’t injured or suspended.
One player who’s absent for the clash is new signing Fernando, who got injured in City’s game against Stoke in August after impressing previously, and is expected to be out until just before the Roma game with a muscle problem. Stevan Jovetić might have better luck however – he injured his hamstring on international duty with Montenegro harking back to the injury problems of last season. The injury turned out to be less serious than first feared and eventually it was reported the ex-Fiorentina man was close to being in the squad for the 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Saturday. He could be back fit in time for the visit to Bavaria.
Long-serving City right-back Pablo Zabaleta is confirmed to be out for Wednesday’s match, having been sent off for two yellows in City’s knockout tie against Barcelona last season. Manuel Pellegrini will also be watching the match from the stands, after he was banned for two games for his comments after the first leg of the Barcelona tie. Ruben Cousillas will take charge in the meantime.
In the Bayern team, there are a few injury worries for Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff. As well as big names like Javi Martinez, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Holger Badstuber (who has only just come back from a serious injury before picking up another one), other players like Thiago, Rafinha and new signing Mehdi Benatia who was heavily linked to a move to City in the summer could all be out as well.
There are even murmurings that Arjen Robben, a player who caused City a lot of problems in last season’s games – particularly the one in Manchester – is a doubt for the game. He was absent from Bayern’s training session on Sunday and could miss the visit of City; news that I’m sure will be music to the ears of Manuel Pellegrini.
The next big target for Manchester City’s owners could well be the UEFA Champions League – they’ve won almost everything else there is to at this point. However few of the big teams consider City a real force in continental competitions even now. In order to go all the way to winning possibly the world’s biggest club competition, City must first make football fans believe that they could do it. Wednesday’s big game in Bavaria could go some way to doing just that.
