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Manchester City fights Bayern for survival in the Champions League

Samrin Hasib, December 6 2011,
With 13 points, Bayern has already qualified as the top team from Group A. City and Napoli will fight it out for the second spot.
Bayern 2-0 City at the Allianz Arena
Bayern 2-0 City at the Allianz Arena
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Bayern sits in an undoubtedly enviable position in Group A. One of the four wins they have garnered along the way came against Manchester City. They beat the Citizens 2-0 on Match-day 2. Three match-days later, City find themselves third in the group at the mercy of not just Bayern but also of Napoli.

Napoli takes on Villarreal on the final match-day. City must hope that Villarreal, a team that is yet to garner a single point from five matches, somehow takes a point or three against Napoli. At the same time, they must beat the mighty Bavarians.

Yet, City plays the Bavarians at a time when they can legitimately think about winning. Bayern’s form in the last four matches in all competitions reads two wins and two losses. The wins came against Villarreal and Bremen, two sides who like to attack the opposition but don’t exactly try to press the opponents into making mistakes.

Both Mainz and Dortmund press their opponents into mistakes. Bayern is a team that doesn’t like to be pressed. Against Dortmund, they put in a fair fight and were unlucky to lose. It was one of those matches where the tactics of both teams led to a high powered match without too much action in either penalty area.

Against Mainz, Bayern deserved to lose. They created about three or four noteworthy chances really and scored from two of them. Mainz looked better, stronger and just fresher. Bayern looked tired; they have a small squad and everyone thought it was beginning to show with the injury to Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Yet, with the return of Arjen Robben to form, Bayern seemed somewhat rejuvenated. They tore apart Bremen. Fortunately for City, Robben has been ruled out of this match as has Bayern’s creative heart Toni Kroos.

Heynckes’s love for squad rotation is no secret. Heynckes knows Bayern has two extremely important matches in the Bundesliga to look forward to against Stuttgart and Köln.

City can thus expect to play a much changed Bayern side. Also, City has the blue-prints they require to beat Bayern. The players must all push their egos aside and press Bayern for 90 minutes. Bayern is capable of scoring at all times and thus City must attack sensibly making sure that they do not leave themselves exposed to a counter-attack.

At the same time, they have to hope that Villarreal has the heart to fight Napoli. The match is a meaningless one for Villarreal and no matter what happens, they will finish bottom of the group.

The odds are stacked against City. This is almost an impossible task. Nonetheless, City can take heart from Bayern’s miraculous comeback in 2009. Down and out of the group stages and simply kept alive by the fact that Bordeaux defeated Juventus, Bayern went into the final day having to beat Juve in Turin. The final score was 1-4. Bayern qualified ahead of Juventus.

City will fight for the match. Bayern’s substitutes will be hungry to prove that they are capable of starting for Germany’s best team. Expect this one to finish in a tie.

Prediction: Manchester City 1-1 Bayern

Manchester City vs Bayern München

Date: Wednesday, 7 Dec 2011
Time: 14:45 ( US/Eastern )
Competition: UEFA Champions League
Live/Repeat: Live
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester (Manchester)

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