BAYERN MUNICH coach Jupp Heynckes is preparing for a “battle of the giants” in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu tonight.
The Bavarians take a 2-1 advantage with them to Spain from the first leg and, while a 0-0 draw would suffice for the visitors to reach the final in their own stadium, few expect the clash to end goalless.
Heynckes is not expecting that either as he prepares for one of the most important nights of the season. “Tomorrow is going to be spectacular. It is going to be a real treat with everything which belongs in such a football game.
“Just a fortnight ago, people were saying that Barcelona are the be all and end all, but now Real have gone and won in Barcelona. It will be a battle of the giants. Both clubs have a great history and I am looking forward to it, and I hope it has a positive outcome for us.”
Heynckes expects Real to attack his side, but he is not going to set his side up to build a wall in front of the goal. Instead, he has promised his team will play their part in the spectacle by remaining faithful to the style of play which has seen them score 71 goals in the Bundesliga and 27 times in Europe.
“We are capable of scoring at the Bernabeu,” he said yesterday. “At the same time, we have shown that we don’t concede many.
“The first-leg result gives us a small advantage, but Real have amazing goal-scoring potential and have scored nearly 150 goals so we will be prepared for that.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger believes the best way to win will be to try to frustrate Real and their fans. “Of course the stadium has an influence on the game and we are going to have to be particularly careful in the first 20 minutes,” he said. “If the fans then start to see that we are resisting, then I am sure it will quieten down a bit.”
Seven Bayern players are one yellow card away from missing a potential final. David Alaba, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Luiz Gustavo, Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng risk suffering the same fate as Franck Ribery two years ago if they pick up a caution, but Schweinsteiger insists holding back is not an option. “Sure, we have got to ensure we don’t get involved in any scuffles, but you can’t really influence that now,” he said. “We have got to get to the final in the first place, so I don’t think that will actually be an issue.”
Heynckes will not be telling any of his players to take it easy either as he demands total commitment for the crucial encounter. “You can also go into the tackle without getting a yellow card,” he said. “I will be making that clear to my players. But then again, you can never rule out getting a yellow card which is undeserved, like David Alaba did.”
Alaba should start anyway, even if he is one of the seven players at risk of missing the final. Schweinsteiger is also likely to start, although Heynckes would not confirm his inclusion, despite him playing through Bayern’s last two league matches and showing signs of having made a full recovery from a troublesome ankle injury.
“Our final training session should give me more of an idea about his condition,” Heynckes said. “I will decide then whether he can start.”
Arjen Robben, Ribery, Boateng, Badstuber, Mario Gomez and Lahm should all return after being rested in Saturday’s 2-1 Bundesliga win over Werder Bremen.
“It’s clear that we are going to have to score one or two goals. We are quite capable of that as we have dangerous forwards but first we must range ourselves in a compact and narrow way and that will create chances to counter-attack,” said Heynckes.
