Champions League: Expect Fireworks When Barcelona Meet Bayern

Barcelona vs Bayern Munich

Two of Europe’s football royalty are set to meet when Bayern Munich head to Barcelona on Wednesday for the Champions League clash of the week.

Managers Vincent Kompany and Hansi Flick have led their teams to strong starts in their domestic leagues; Bayern top of the Bundesliga on goal difference while Barca are three points clear at the summit of La Liga, with an impressive goal difference of +23 after ten games. Both teams come into the game on the back of a thumping win, Bayern beating VfB Stuttgart 4-0 on Saturday before Barcelona hammered Sevilla 5-1 on Sunday.       

The Champions League 2024 betting odds have drifted the Bavarians out to fifth in the rankings at a price of 10.00, with the Blaugrana a place behind at SBOTOP odds of 13.00. Both proud clubs will have their eyes on the main prize and Wednesday’s clash will shine a light on which is the more likely.  

For what it’s worth, Barca and Bayern sit in 16^th and 15^th in the Champions League table after winning one and losing one of their first two; but they’ll both make the knockout phase…I’m pretty sure of that.

 

Talking Points

Lewandowski is on fire

Polish goal machine Robert Lewandowski will face his old team for the first time since he transferred to Barcelona in 2022, and the Bavarians will need no reminder as to just how lethal a finisher he is. But, just to be sure, Lewi scored another two on Sunday to lead the race for the Pichichi by six clear goals ahead of Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe. He’s already on 12 from ten games and has scored ten goals in the last six.     

As well as enabling Lewandowski to increase his tally, Sevilla’s visit to Barcelona enabled the Blaugrana to showcase more of their exciting young players. 21-year-old attacking midfielder Pablo Torre scored two second half goals and Pedri, also 21, is back to his very best, scoring a scorcher in the destruction of Sevilla and controlling much of Barcelona’s creative play. It’s incredible to think that, despite suffering lengthy injuries, Pedri has already played over 100 games for Barca and his return has helped Flick mould together a team of very serious title contenders. 17-year-old winger Lamine Yamal made a return too and the resurgent Raphinha was once again a constant threat, and the Brazilian’s form has a lot to do with Lewandowski’s success this term.  

This is an exciting attacking team but they will be well aware that Bayern pose a serious threat too, and experienced centre back Inigo Martinez will keep a close watch on Bayern striker Harry Kane.    

 

Pavlovic out but Musiala hopeful for Bayern

While Robert Lewandowski continues to rip up La Liga, Harry Kane isn’t doing a bad job in the Bundesliga as his hat-trick in the Bavarians’ clash with Stuttgart took him up to eight goals and second to Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush in the race for the Golden Boot. 

But the win was not without some pain and, in other Champions League 2024 news, Bayern’s midfield ace Aleksandar Pavlovic will be out for some time after he suffered a broken collar bone during the match with Stuttgart. Kompany may well opt for summer recruit Joao Palhinha as a replacement. The former Fulham man is an energetic box to box midfielder with the ability to reduce the time and space available for opposition forwards. 

In better news for Bayern, playmaker Jamal Musiala is close to a return after recovering from a hip injury and he looks likely to be ready for the trip to Barcelona. Bayern have already showed how destructive they can be, hammering Dynamo Zagreb 9-2, and the return of Musiala makes the Germans more dangerous.         

 

History

The Bundesliga giants have had the better of their head to head meetings with Barcelona, winning nine to five, and Bayern have won each of the last six, including an 8-2 massacre in the 2020 Champions League quarter final.  

But recent form favours the Catalans with five wins from their last six outings compared to Bayern’s three wins and Flicks’s team has won its last seven games at home.

 

Betting Tip

We’re in for a cracking game here and it’s a tough one to call, with Barcelona the marginal favourites at 2.34 and Bayern available at a price of 2.41, with the draw at 3.45. 

Barcelona’s head coach Flick and their main striker Lewandowski were both at Bayern very recently; but I doubt their old friends will be pleased to see them on Wednesday and I suspect a hostile home crowd will give the Blaugrana the edge.    

   

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