Bayern Munich wary of another surprise from Sevilla
BAYERN Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has said there were no celebrations when his players watched the Champions League draw come out but Sevilla head into Tuesday’s tie as the overwhelming under-dogs of the quarterfinals.
Only Roma, who play Barcelona onWednesday, might claim to face a more formidable task in the last eight but the Italians have at least grown familiar with the competition’s knock-out rounds in recent seasons.
This will be Sevilla’s first ever appearance in a Champions League quarterfinal.
“The team was not euphoric [at the draw],” Heynckes said. “They reacted very calmly, as though they just had a beer.
“Of course, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City are playing very well, Liverpool are playing well, but we had five English teams through and we were talking about the best league in the world – three of them are gone. So we must take these guys seriously.”
Sevilla were responsible for the least expected blow landed on the Premier League after they dumped out Manchester United in the last 16 following a fearless 2-1 win at Old Trafford.
“On Tuesday we have to try to have a lot of the ball to run less,” Montella said afterwards.
For Bayern and Heynckes, it makes Sevilla a difficult threat to assess.
“The video analysts have to filter the strengths and weakness of the opponents and I’ll watch three or four opposition videos,” Heynckes said. “If you watched them play against United, even after the 1-0 lead they noticed that United needed two goals and they played really good football. We can’t afford to celebrate already.”
With Heynckes set to retire in the summer, Bayern are still searching for his successor after Thomas Tuchel said he had already signed for another club.
Any doubts, however, have not affected the players. Bayern hammered third-placed Borussia Dortmund 6-0 on Saturday to move 17 points clear of the top of the Bundesliga and they are looking to reach their sixth Champions League semi-final in seven years.
Manuel Neuer is back in training but this week is likely to come too soon for the goalkeeper, who has been out since September with a fractured metatarsal in his left foot.
“The injury has healed,” Heynckes said. “But we shouldn’t jump the gun, we will bring him up to speed step by step.”