After crowning the Bundesliga and the German Cup a few weeks ago, Bayern Munich has only three steps left to repeat the triple dream by snatching the Champions League title and crowning this special season for it.
Bayern overcame Chelsea's hurdle by winning the second leg a few days ago, after a long hiatus for about five months due to the outbreak of the emerging coronavirus that struck various parts of the world.
And this crisis stopped sporting activity in most parts of the world, after some first-round matches in the round of 16 of the European Champions League, which saw Bayern beat Chelsea 3-0.
Now, Bayern has only to take three steps to regain the European title, which it has been missing for years, and to repeat the triple dream that it achieved in 2013.
On Friday, Bayern clashes with Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, whose final rounds will be held this year in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, due to the continuing Corona crisis.
Bayern seeks to win tomorrow to take an important step on the road to regaining the continental title on the one hand and celebrating its 250th match in the history of its European Champions League participation.
Tomorrow's match is the first step in the three steps towards the podium of the Lisbon champions.
Bayern is aware of the difficulty of the three confrontations that await him towards the podium, as he collides tomorrow with Barcelona, who has won the same five Champions League title in the past, and Bayern may then meet in the golden box with Manchester City if the English team succeeds in overcoming the hurdle of Lyon, France, on Saturday.
And in the event that Bayern wins the golden square, he may meet Paris Saint-Germain if the latter succeeds in overcoming the golden square hurdle, in which he will meet the winner of today's eight-quarter match between Atletico Madrid of Spain and Leipzig, Germany.
Always high, @lewy_official 🔝
#Champions League # Bayern pic.twitter.com/gGT2rVXsuF
- Bayern Munich (@FCBayernAr) August 8, 2020
But the most difficult obstacle on Bayern's way to the podium may be tomorrow's match against Barcelona, led by the dangerous Argentine striker, Lionel Messi.
Bayern’s chances of surpassing tomorrow’s hurdle will certainly depend a lot on what Polish striker Robert Lewandowski can offer in the face of Barcelona’s defense, German international goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the extent of Lewandowski’s ability to outperform Messi.
Levandowski is terrifying! 🎳
13 Goals ⭐
7 matches ⚽ # Mission_Lisbon_pakmas @lewy_official pic.twitter.com/hWb9wZkRCa
- Bayern Munich (@FCBayernAr) August 13, 2020
Although Bayern has not suffered any losses since the beginning of 2020, "The road to the final is full of difficulties," said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chief executive of the Bavarian club, upon his arrival Thursday in Lisbon.
With the difficulty of the confrontation tomorrow against Barcelona, Bayern coach Hanzi Flick devised a special plan to deal with Messi and his companions.
"Barcelona is a really good team and they have tremendous potential. We have to throw all our weight on the field, and my team understands very well that the tournament system now depends on the condition of the team on the day of the match, so we have to grab good luck," Flick said.
Bayern midfielder Leon Goritska said, "We know our chances very well, and we are really looking forward to playing the game."
And the magnitude of the excitement in this confrontation is doubled because it is from one match like the rest of the quarter-final matches and the golden square in the current version, as a result of the Corona crisis, which led to the change of the system of the final rounds of the tournament, which was held in a round-trip match system.
Good trip guys! 💪✈ # Bayern # Mission Lisbon # Pakmas pic.twitter.com/eJUWFp5sXP
- Bayern Munich (@FCBayernAr) August 9, 2020
The excitement is also compounded by what Bayern's players and coaches and the rest of the championship teams saw yesterday, when French Paris Saint-Germain snatched a fatal victory over Atlanta, Italy, in stoppage time for the match after Atlanta was ahead with a clean goal until the 90th minute, which saw the French team's equalizer.
Of all the teams that reached the quarter-finals in the Champions League this season, only Barcelona and Bayern have won the championship with five titles each, while none of the other six teams have ever won the title so far.
Interestingly, the winner in the previous three confrontations between Barcelona and Bayern in the playoff rounds of the tournament succeeded in crowning the title in the same season, as that was the share of Barcelona in the 2009 and 2015 editions and Bayern in 2013.
The current Bayern team includes a number of players who won the title with the team in the 2013 edition, which completed the historic triple for the team at the time under the leadership of coach Jupp Heynckes.
In their last 27 matches under the leadership of their current coach, Hanzi Flick, since December 2019, Bayern won 26 games and tied in one match against Leipzig in a negative way.
After the resumption of the season’s activities following the suspension period for the Corona crisis, Bayern have won 12 consecutive matches out of these 27 matches.
Bayern attack star Thomas Muller warned of the confrontation with Barcelona tomorrow, which will be his 113th participation with Bayern in the Champions League.
Mueller said, "Even if Barcelona has suffered from some problems recently, everything can happen," noting the need to be careful and make a strong show against the Catalan team.
The two teams realize that a large part of either of them’s success tomorrow will depend on what the offensive line offers in both of them, led by Messi in Barcelona and Lewandowski in Bayern.
The last training in Barcelona, before traveling to Lisbon 🇵🇹
🔜 # BarçaBayern
🏆 @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/l4p2Y8WVHg
- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 12, 2020
Lewandowski scored 53 goals in 44 matches he played since the start of this season, confirming that he is the most prominent trump card for the Bavarian team.
"For me, Lewandowski is the best spearhead in the world right now," said former Bayern player Mats Hummels. "He has everything, plays with his teammates, scores goals and cares about team performance."
👋 Greetings to you from Lisbon 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/efW31H6uQD
- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 13, 2020
But Barcelona also has the dangerous Messi, whose suspension is a very difficult task which many teams have failed.
In 2015, the Spanish coach, Josep Guardiola, who had great experience and knowledge of Messi, was a technical director for Bayern, but this did not prevent Messi from scoring two goals during the first-leg match between the two teams in the Champions League semi-finals, which ended in Barcelona's 3-0 victory, after Messi penetrated the nets of Manuel Neuer, goalkeeper. Bayern twice.
Goritzka said that Messi would only be suspended through a group performance, pointing out that Barcelona includes many stars such as Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and others, not just Messi.
💙❤ # Barcelona fans are everywhere, good night
✅ # BarçaNapoli
🔜 # BarçaBayern
🏆 @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/eZTxw2u2eu
- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 12, 2020
Despite the shaky level of Barcelona under the leadership of coach Quique Setien since he took charge in the middle of the season, succeeding coach Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona has the drive to perform a strong performance against Bayern as Barcelona left the local season empty-handed and finished second behind Real Madrid in the Spanish League and failed to regain the King's Cup title Spain.
On the other hand, Bayern won the league and cup double in Germany, as the cohesion of the team's players appeared in his camp in Portugal before the match tomorrow.
Despite some changes that Flick needs to make to Bayern's starting lineup due to injuries, this team gives coach Flick many options that he can choose from.