Bayern prepare for Barca battle in Champions League semi-final second leg

Bayern Munich are 3-0 down from the first leg of the semi against Barcelona, and are 16/1 with Coral to qualify for the final of the Champions League.

For the German giants to win the match, and there to be over 3.5 goals in the game, odds of 11/2 are available, or for Barcelona to win with the same amount of goals in the match, you can get a price of 6/1.

This could be the likelier scenario, as Barca’s strikeforce is frightening, and Bayern do need to force the issue. In 2013, when Bayern, under Jupp Heynckes went on to win the competition, they dismantled Barca 7-0 on aggregate, and 4-0 at the Allianz Arena at this stage of the tournament.

Thomas Muller bagged a brace at home on that occasion, and is 8/1 to equal or better that achievement, having also scored once against Porto in the last round at the Allianz.

Robert Lewandowski struck twice in the 6-1 second leg win against the Portuguese outfit and is 7/1 to net two or more again.

It is a mammoth task, even for someone as accomplished as former Barca boss Pep Guardiola, though he will want to respond to former German great Lothar Matthaus, who claimed Bayern have “lost faith” in the Spaniard following four consecutive defeats, despite winning the Bundesliga once more.

“Guardiola has already said that their season is over and he’s been rotating his team so much that he’s unsettling the team,” he said.

“His team no longer has the stability they had for over eight months, enchanting football fans up and down Germany,” continued Matthaus.

“It seems the players are losing a bit of belief in the coach, and he hadn’t expected that.”

However, while trying to find the advantage, Bayern need to keep the lethal attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar quiet. It was the former who struck a delightful double in the first leg, and is now 20/1 to better that by hitting a hat-trick.

In Barca’s last away Champions League match against PSG, it was Suarez who seized the initiative getting on the scoresheet twice, and he is 9/1 to net two or more.

However, Neymar has four in Barca’s last three Champions League matches, striking in each one, and the Brazilian has decent 7/4 odds to get a goal anytime. To repeat their 3-0 success from the last leg, they are 33/1 and to beat the aggregate scoreline that Bayern beat them by two years ago, and prevent their hosts from netting, they are 150/1 to win 5-0 which would equate to 8-0 overall.