The Spanish tactician enjoyed a fruitful reign as the manager of the Catalans and under his tutelage Barcelona took the world by storm. He now returns to the Camp Nou and is all set to go against a team he knows very well.
Bayern themselves have been incredible this season, but Barcelona in their recent games have produced performances which can easily be termed as "out of this world". It will be naive to claim that the Bavarians are no match for the Blaugrana, but it is expected that they will suffer and here are five reasons why:
The high flying MSN
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez were assembled in the same squad to guide the Catalans back to the top and create history and that is what they have done so far. The formidable trio has now scored a mammoth 108 goals among themselves which is just seven goals less than the entire Bayern Munich squad has managed all season long.
MSN goal scoring record prior to the match against Cordoba
"MSN" as the trio is referred to has now surpassed the goal scoring record set by Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o in 2008/2009 when the three combined to score 100 goals. All three men have been in impeccable form as of late and apart from having pitched in with goals they have been providers as well. Simply put, the Bayern Munich defence might be in for a very long night.
Injuries in the squad
Injuries have been the Bavarians' achilles heels in recent months and it is something which has evidently not been taken well by Pep Guardiola. As if the loss of star players Franck Ribery and David Alaba was not enough itself, Arjen Robben picked up an injury upon his return in the match against Dortmund.
Bayern Munich's recent injuries
Lewandowski took a massive blow to his face after colliding with Mitch Langerak in the same match and it remains to be seen whether the Polish international will be fit enough to start in the all important match against Barcelona.
Javi Martinez on the other hand made his return to the side in the defeat at the hands of Leverkusen, but it remains to be seen whether Guardiola will field him in the big match on Wednesday.
Vulnerable defence
Even though statistically Bayern have been phenomenal at the back having conceded just 15 goals in 31 league outings, defence is easily their weakest area. The Bayern back line has been exposed on a number of occasions this season. Once by Wolfsburg who thrashed the league leaders 4-1 earlier in the campaign, by Porto in the first leg of the Champions League Quarter-Final and again by Leverkusen in Bayern's last outing.
It does not come as a surprise that Dante started in all the aforementioned matches but the Brazilian is not to be blamed alone. Apart from Jerome Boateng who has shined this season, none of the other defenders have made much of an impression and this is something Bayern might have to pay a heavy price for.
The unstoppable Leo Messi
It goes without saying, but Bayern will have to come up with a special plan for arguably the world's best player. After a slow start to the season, the little magician has returned to his best and is showing no signs of slowing down.
He has been on a devastating goal scoring run as of late and has scored more goals than anyone else in Europe's top five leagues in 2015..jpg)
The Argentinean remains a potent goal scoring threat but has been a massive team player as well and Bayern will definitely find it difficult to cope up with the threat caused by the four time Ballon d'Or winner.
Barcelona's recent form
They have been Europe's most in form team and have enjoyed a commendable 90% win rate in 2015. The Catalans are now unbeaten in their last 16 matches in all competitions and will be hoping to continue their run when they face Bayern.
The Bavarians on the other hand have experienced a dip in form and have suffered defeats in both their last two outings. Momentum is definitely not on Bayern's side and it is probably a bad time for them to be facing Europe's top performers.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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