Underrated Bayern eye Champions League prize ahead of Besiktas tie
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With the possible exception of Manchester City, Bayern Munich should fear no-one during the remainder of this season’s Champions League.
The German giants, who have reached the final of the competition on three occasions since 2009, are Europe’s form team.
That is no mean feat for a side who failed to win four of their opening nine games under previous manager Carlo Ancelotti. Since the Italian’s sacking in early October, Der Bayern have gone from strength to strength.
Club legend Jupp Heynckes has guided the Bundesliga champions to 24 wins from their last 27 matches. They’ve scored three or more goals 13 times during that run and crucially appear to have rediscovered their identity.
That should worry their main UCL rivals. Real Madrid lack any sort of consistency under Zinedine Zidane, while even Barcelona have struggled for form of late. The Catalonian giants have not won two games in a row since the turn of the year.
Juventus, Liverpool and AS Roma have all shown either domestically or in Europe that they have deficiencies in their play that can be exploited.
With Paris Saint-Germain also out of the picture, it leaves the door open for 9/2 shots Bayern Munich. The German side have no obvious weakness in their play and appear to be at the peak of their powers at the moment.
They demonstrated that in impressive style three weeks ago with a 5-0 demolition of Besiktas at the Allianz Arena.
It means Die Roten are near dead-certs to go through from the tie and odds-on favourites at 4/9 to finish the job in Turkey tonight.
Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace in the first match and followed that up with a hat-trick against Hamburg at the weekend. The Polish striker is in red-hot form and provides yet another reason why Bayern should be considered for UCL glory.
Of course, no side wanting to go deep in Europe’s top competition can do so without a stand-up defence. So it’s a good job that Bayern’s rearguard have a tendency to keep clean sheets.
Heynckes’ men have let in just two goals since late January and are currently on a run of four games without conceding. Joshua Kimmich, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng, in particular, have been excellent of late.
They’re 19/10 to help the visitors secure another shutout this evening and Win to Nil.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
