The Bavarian giants will host FC Basel for the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage clash on Tuesday, March 13. The former German champions need to win with a two-goal margin to qualify for the next phase of
the competition.
Basel won the first-leg of the clash at St. Jakob-Park last month as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valentin-Stocker-c35843 scored the only goal of the match in the dying moments to give his side the lead on aggregate.
Bayern Munich
The home side will be high on confidence after they secured a staggering 7-1 win over Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga this past weekend to get back to winning ways. Mario Gomez scored a hat-trick to lead his side to all three points.
The Bavarians have struggled after the winter break and have won only two of the last five games in all competitions. Borussia Dortmund have taken the advantage of the inconsistent form and are currently leading the table with
five points.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Basel-c39079
The Swiss outfit has been a revelation in Europe this season. The team qualified for the knock-out stage of the competition as they finished runners-up in Group C to Benfica with 11 points from the six games played.
Basel qualified ahead of Manchester United and their impressive 3-3 result at Old Trafford was one of the best performances by a team in Europe this season.
Team News
Bayern Munich
The hosts are sweating on the fitness of three players ahead of the clash against Basel. Mario Gomez, Jerome Boateng and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arjen-Robben-c6521 suffered knocks in the game against Hoffenheim and will undergo fitness tests before the game.
Defender Rafinha has recovered from flu and will be available for the fixture.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bastian-Schweinsteiger-c7374 is expected to start his first game in a month after he recovered from an ankle injury and played a cameo in the league game against Hoffenheim.
FC Basel
The visitors will be without left-back Jo-Hoo Park for the game as he is out with injury. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Scott-Chipperfield-c32661 have both recovered from injury and will be available for the clash against the Bavarian giants.
Players to watch
Franck Ribery has been Bayern’s most impressive player in the last few weeks. The French international has carried on with his sensational performances after scoring a brace against Schalke and played a major part in the game against
Hoffenheim as well. The winger accumulated three assists and also scored a goal against Markus Babbel’s side.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xherdan-Shaqiri-c37074 will definitely be the man to watch out for in the game. The Swiss international has agreed to move to Bayern Munich at the end of the season and this will be his first performance in front of his future club’s
fans at Allianz Arena.
Prediction
Although the Swiss side have a one goal advantage over the Munich giants from the first-leg, it will still be a difficult task for them to hang on to the lead. They will have to score at least once in the game to put pressure on
the hosts.
Bayern Munich have shown that Allianz Arena is still a fortress despite the recent run of poor results in the away games. The Bavarians downed Schalke 2-0 and got the better of Hoffenheim with a sensational 7-1 margin and are high
on confidence. Jupp Heynckes’ side is expected to win this with a 3-1 margin.
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