5 reasons why Barcelona will struggle against Bayern Munich | UEFA Champions League 2019-20
Barcelona have had a rather forgettable season. And tonight, they will take on an in-form Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Bayern Munich go into the game as the odds on favourite to win the tie against Barcelona and progress to the semi-finals
After sacking Ernesto Valverde when the team was on top of the La Liga table, Barcelona's form dipped and they lost the title to arch-rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona have not been on a convincing run and they'll have to outdo themselves to overcome the challenge posed by the Bundesliga champions.
With games from the quarter-final stage now being restricted to a single leg in order to expedite this long season's conclusion, Barcelona cannot afford to slip up tonight and if they do, they had better prepare themselves for all the stick they're about to receive subsequently.
#5 Bayern Munich have been in excellent form
While Barcelona have been struggling on a lot of fronts, Bayern Munich have been thriving. The Bavarians have been in free goalscoring form and their attack that is led by Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 54 goals from 45 games this season, has been simply unstoppable.
Lewandowski has scored 13 goals from 7 Champions League appearances and he alongside Gnabry and Muller have become perhaps the most feared attacking trio in Europe.
Bayern Munich come into the quarter-finals against Barcelona after having dispatched Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16. Alarm bells are surely ringing for the Cules.
#4 Barcelona do not have the pace to trouble Bayern Munich's high line
Holding a high line is key to Bayern Munich's attacking game. As such, teams have looked to break them with pace on the counter by utilizing the space left behind by the advancing centre-backs.
However, an ageing Barcelona side simply does not pack enough pace to take advantage of the situation. Most Barcelona attackers are in their 30s and even if they circumvent Bayern Munich's high-press, motoring into the final third and leaving the opposition defenders behind is not something they are capable of pulling off.
As a result, in order to cause problems for Bayern with pace, Barcelona will need to turn to Ousmane Dembele, who hasn't played in a while, or Ansu Fati and thereby take off Antoine Griezmann. That would surely be a gamble that Setien will think several times over before taking.