A surprise defeat at relegation-threatened Mallorca was an inauspicious way for Real Madrid to preface the visit of six-time European champions Bayern Munich, leaving head coach Alvaro Arbeloa to urge his players to “switch gears” for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Madrid had won their previous five matches in all competitions and could take encouragement from their form against Bayern, beating Die Roten in the last four two-legged ties between the sides.
“I know what my players are capable of,” said Arbeloa, emphasising his sole responsibility for the setback.
“I know they understand the importance of Tuesday’s match… the level of demand will be extremely high.
“I’m confident that [our fans] will give us another great Champions League night, as they have been doing… without them, everything is harder – and with them, everything is much easier.”
Bayern extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches in all competitions in dramatic style on Saturday, triumphing from 2-0 behind at Freiburg courtesy of goals by Tom Bischof in the 81st and 92nd minutes and a 99th-minute Lennart Karl winner.
“I‘m absolutely convinced that we can win everything this year,” even though I know how difficult that is,” said midfielder Leon Goretzka, via Bayern’s website. “We’ll give it a try.
“We haven’t had much success against Real recently. We’d very much like to turn around the statistics from recent years.
“To a German, Real Madrid always sounds like the Champions League. They are [record 15-time] champions in this competition and have been the dominant team over the past 10 to 15 years.
“These are two giants of European football going head to head. They’ve had some very, very good – but also some bad – moments this season.
“At the moment, you never really know what you’ll get from them. Experience tells us that they usually manage to pull something off in the Champions League, but we’ll be prepared for that.”
Table of Contents
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich team news
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (quad), left-back Ferland Mendy (hamstring), winger Rodrygo (knee) and midfielder Dani Ceballos (calf) are sidelined for Madrid.
David Alaba was an unused substitute against Mallorca as the defender continues his return from injury.
Midfielder Federico Valverde could return from suspension and Eder Militao equalised against Mallorca on the centre-back’s comeback from a long-term injury.
Midfielder Jude Bellingham came on as a substitute, having not been risked by England during the international break.
Vinicius Junior could start this time, having started on the bench on Saturday because the winger was tired after representing Brazil.
Top scorer Kylian Mbappe played throughout on his first start since missing a total of five games through a knee injury.
Mbappe has not scored in five club appearances in all competitions, last netting for Madrid almost two months ago.
The France captain, Vinicius Junior, Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni, Dean Huijsen and Alvaro Carreras must avoid bookings to be eligible for the second leg.
Leading marksman Harry Kane missed Bayern’s latest win with an ankle issue and is a doubt, but goalkeeper Jonas Urbig returned as an unused substitute.
Midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic and widemen Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala also came off the bench following injuries.
Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich (knee) is injured. Konrad Laimer and Dayot Upamecano will be banned for the second leg if they are booked.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
