Manchester United were drawn with Bayern Munich last week
A few and when I say a few,I mean very few are expecting Man United to book a berth in the Champions League Semi Finals owing to a pretty obvious reason.The world conquerors Bayern Munich are standing in their path to Lisbon in the Quarter Finals.
The hearts of many United fans skipped their respective beats when Luis Figo drew out Chelsea with Paris Saint Germain during the draw last week and rightly so,United were pitted against last season's treble winners Bayern Munich.
To begin with,both clubs share a huge amount of history amongst themselves and the so called -rivalry has become a renowned but yet dreaded one.The dramatic 1999 European Cup Final is one of the most sweetly cherished games which is embedded in the hearts of United fans (including me) but the Bavarians did avenge that loss 10 years after the historic epoch in time.United went down on away goals rule thanks to an Arjen Robben equalizer on aggregate.
We all know that United are currently enduring an exceptionally torrid season and are languishing down at the 7th place,but they can never be counted out.Bayern were recently crowned the Bundesliga Champions and deservedly so,they won it by a huge margin of 25 points.They will be a tough nut to crack for Moyes' boys but Napoleon had rightly quoted-"Impossible is a word found in the dictionary of fools".
Bayern ran out as lucky winners against United's rivals Arsenal but this time around United should not laugh at how their Emirates residing rivals got kicked out. The 2nd Leg of that clash is worth drawing out lessons from feasibly . And the early part of the 1st Leg in London should also be looked upon as a way to outstage the Germans.
In the early part of the 1st Leg,Arsenal came up as a surprise for Guardiola's men.Considering the fact that they were not used to falling prey to such kind of quickness in the Bundesliga especially in the early part of a game,they succumbed to it perfectly.Arsenal got their reward for it but Mesut Ozil's ridiculous penalty pulverized all the momentum.
Moving on to the 2nd Leg,we saw Arsenal willing to keep the ball,even when Bayern wanted it. And that was when Bayern looked highly edgy and nervous,especially their centre backs and Bastian Schweinsteiger ,who was coerced to sit deep in order to stop Arsenal.The nervousness was evidently lurking on their faces at a stage when Arsenal were regularly exerting pressure with quickness and agility. But,the dented confidence of the Arsenal players meant that Bayern got off easily and escaped a goal or two but it surely is something which David Moyes must look at.
David Alaba ,Bayern's left back must be tracked down very efficiently ,if Bayern are to be "assassinated".If United's right winger isn't able to track Alaba down,the 2v1 for Rafael will prove murderous for United.Same's the case with Lahm,but in a different context,he must be closed down as quickly as possible by the opposition.He can spray balls all over the park and especially if Pep pushes him into the central midfield.Philipp Lahm is no longer a buzzing full-back, but replicates Guardiola’s role of twenty years ago. Captain Lahm plays just ahead of the centre-backs and possession goes through him continuously.
Last but not the least of the most considerable ways to stop Bayern would be to cut the line of supply for them.If you want to stifle Bayern reserve a forward to track down Lahm and reserve a midfielder to stop the central midfielder they use either Schweinsteiger or Toni Kroos.
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