Bayern Munich didn’t have the best of build-ups ahead of their big Champions League tie with Celtic on Tuesday night.
The Bundesliga giants got their Champions League playoff knockout qualification hopes off to a good start after Bayern Munich beat Celtic in the first leg in Glasgow.
However, a spirited fightback by Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic to peg back the tie to 2-1 gave the Hoops a glimmer of hope that a fightback in Munich is possible.
Bayern looked rattled when Celtic winger Daizen Maeda knocked in a close-range header in the final ten minutes of the game but, unfortunately, the Hoops couldn’t nab an equaliser to take back to Germany and offer Vincent Kompany’s side some food for thought.
However, it seems that the Munich manager is thinking about the return leg with Celtic after he watched his team’s disappointing result with Bayer Leverkusen just days before the big Champions League second-leg showdown.
Bayern Munich’s draw with Leverkusen has Vincent Kompany talking about Celtic
Munich drew 0-0 at Bayer Leverkusen as the current defending Bundesliga champions gave Kompany’s team a difficult afternoon.
It seemed that Leverkusen’s press caused Munchen a variety of problems as Kompany defended his players for what seemed like a disappointing performance ahead of the Celtic game.
Kompany said in Bayern Munich’s post-match press conference [9m], “If Leverkusen wants to press then they can press. If they want to defend deep then they can defend deep.
“I said before the first game, the second game and now the third game and that’s what they decided today and again we did what we did because I know we can talk about this game now and continue to make it big for the next two weeks.
“But important for me is we have scored almost 100 goals so far. We have got more and more shots always fewer shots against us always played dominant today we take this point we defended well and this comes after a huge fight in Glasgow and we have to be ready again on Tuesday.”
Bayern Munich’s stats vs Leverkusen gives Celtic Champions League hope
Kompany is correct. Munich are scoring for fun right now this season. However, against Bayer Leverkusen, their shooting boots were firmly left in the changing rooms as Celtic’s opponents struggled to muster up more than two shots on goal yesterday afternoon.
Here are the stats of the game as Fotmob broke down Munich’s 0-0 draw with Jeremie Frimpong’s team:
- Total shots: Leverkusen 15 – Munich 2
- Shots on target: Leverkusen 3 – Munich 0
- Big chances created: Leverkusen 5 – Munich 0
- Xg: Leverkusen 2.19 – Munich 0.05
- Touches in opposition box: Leverkusen 36 – Munich 5
- Clearances: Leverkusen 6 – Munich 37
- Player of the match: Munich goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer
So it seems that Leverkusen’s press gave Bayern a torrid time at the BayArena and whilst we are not suggesting that Celtic can do the same job in the Allianz, those stats do give Brendan Rodgers some hope that anything is possible against the German giants.
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