Last season, Bayern Munich were paired with Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League. After the first leg and 90 minutes on the road, die Roten headed back to Munich just one goal behind, with all of it to play for at the Allianz Arena.
Normally, a 1-0 deficit is not something to trouble most coaches, especially when he's the manager of a team that demolished his former club Barcelona 7-0 in the 2012-2013 semi's en route to winning the trophy that May. However, what would ensue at Bayern's home ground was among the most shocking results in recent times and the 4-0 humiliation by Carlo Ancelotti's men would set an unfortunate precedent for highly decorated tactician Pep Guardiola.
As fate would have it, the former Blaugrana star and coach was pitted against his ex-club as he seeks redemption following last season's 5-0 disaster. For most of the game, despite not being able to score, all seemed to be going well for Bayern until Lionel Messi would come back to haunt his former boss. And once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping the four-time Ballon d'Or winner as his involvement in all three goals (a brace and an assist) last week has Luis Enrique's men firmly in control prior to their crunch clash later today in Munich.
All was going well for Bayern...until Messi's magic took hold in the 77th minute. Less than 20 minutes later, Barcelona would have put three past Manuel Neuer
For the second straight season, the Bundesliga champs are facing a semi-final exit at the hands of Spanish opposition
With this little stat about the Argentinian superstar, Bayern fans will certainly have quite a bit to worry about:
99 - In his 97 CL matches Lionel Messi has been involved in 99 goals (77 goals, 22 assists). Awesome. #FCBFCB
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) May 12, 2015
However, the power of the Allianz Arena is not to be underestimated, perhaps:
3 - @FCBayern have won their last three CL home matches with a result that would at least take them to extra time versus FC Barcelona. Hope.
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) May 12, 2015
A closer look at Bayern's record will reveal an interesting fact since the knock-out rounds began in February. On the road, their record reads as zero wins and two losses. Each and every time the first leg was played away from Munich, die Roten scored a shockingly poor one solitary goal - with Guardiola protegee Thiago netting against Porto on April 15th.
Luis Enrique will be wary of taking on a wounded Bayern at home as he prepares to face his friend and ex-teammate Guardiola later today
However, a bruised Bayern is a dangerous thing indeed. Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar, who managed to hold them to a draw would find out this unpleasant fact in March. Some have pointed out that they did have to play a man down for practically the entire game. But, to be brutally honest, if they had an extra player - or two - they still would have been no match for the Bundesliga giants as they ruthlessly dispatched their hapless opponents in front of their home crowd.
Porto would be the next recipient of a Bayern hammering just a month later as they were humiliated 6-1 following their 3-1 win just six days earlier. All in all, die Roten have outscored their opponents by an impressive 14 to four in the knock-out rounds and kept a clean sheet in all their three home group stage matches, scoring six in the process.
Of course, Barcelona - without sounding disrespectful to Portuguese powerhouse Porto - is in an entirely different class all together and have long been tipped as one of the heavy favourites to lift the trophy in Berlin. Still, Bayern are unbeaten in all of their six home games in this season's Champions League and will be desperate to make it seven in seven as they wish to avoid a second straight humiliating semi-finals.
Will the power of the Allianz Arena be able to halt Barcelona? Bayern again will have to come from a loss as they welcome Messi, Neymar, and their teammates to Munich
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Were one to just look at the numbers, the odds would be firmly in favour of Bayern. However, sheer stats do not win a game - the actions of the players on the pitch does. Thus, Guardiola's men, whilst feeling a bit encouraged by their home form, will need to play arguably their best match all season - and hope for the Allianz to act at that 12th man - if they want to have any chance to joining either Juventus or Real Madrid in Berlin next month.
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