Bayern eyes PSG revenge at home
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Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich says Bayern Munich is out to avenge its UEFA Champions League thrashing at the hands of the Paris Saint-Germain when the teams clash again in Bavaria today.
Bayern crashed to a 0-3 defeat in Paris at the end of September, when Dani Alves, Edinson Cavani and Neymar all scored at the Parc de Princes.
The defeat led to the Germans firing Carlo Ancelotti and rehired Jupp Heynckes as head coach.
Since then, Bayern has won ten of its 11 games.
With both teams through to the last 16, Bayern needs to beat PSG by four goals at the Allianz Arena today to wrest top spot in the group, but the Germans have a score to settle regardless of the result.
“Of course we want revenge, it will be difficult to win the group, but it’s about prestige and we want to show the first leg was just a slip-up,” Ulreich told magazine Kicker.
Bayern’s hopes received a boost on Saturday as PSG suffered its first French league defeat this season, crashing 1-2 at Racing Strasbourg, while the Germans beat Hanover 96 3-1 in Munich.
“We are realistic: it’s not about winning the group, it’s about prestige,” said Heynckes in yesterday’s press conference.
“We want to make the first-leg performance a thing of the past.
“We want to show not only that Bayern has a big history, but that we are at the same level with a team which has invested 500 million euros (US$593 million) in the last year.
“I am very confident that I will be able to give the supporters a pleasant evening.”
Ancelotti dropped senior stars Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels from his starting line-up in Paris and Bayern is still smarting from that heavy away defeat.
“It was a black evening for us, we didn’t play the football we can,” admitted defender Niklas Suele, who played in Paris instead of Hummels.
“The line-up had nothing to do with it, I was pleased to have been able to play, but not much worked that night.”
Winger Kingsley Coman says Bayern has something to prove to itself and the rest of Europe against his former club.
“The first game is still in our heads,” said the 21-year-old who started his career in Paris. “We have to prove to ourselves, and the rest of Europe, that we are still one of the top teams and can win games like this.”
Ulreich is tipping Bayern to win 2-0 at home and says the current squad can go far in the knockout stages.
“When everyone is fit, we have a lot of potential in the squad and I see our prospects as being very positive, but we need all our players to do that, but I am confident,” he said.
In other UCL matches today, it will be: Celtic vs Anderlecht; Barcelona vs Sporting Lisbon; Olympiakos vs Juventus; AS Roma vs Qarabag; Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid; Benfica vs Basel; and Manchester United vs CSKA Moscow.
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