adminBERLIN. — Pep Guardiola will be hoping Bayern Munich suffer no Champions League soccer hangover when they return to the German Bundesliga action at Cologne today on the back of their stunning victory against Juventus.
Bayern came from two goals down to beat Italian champions Juve 4-2 after extra time in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday and advance to the quarter-finals 6-4 on aggregate. The Bavarians, who are in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition for the fifth campaign running, have won all seven of their league fixtures immediately after European matches this season, often running up big scores in the process.
“Juventus is history, now our focus is on Cologne,” said Guardiola as he oversaw Bayern training on Thursday.
With eight games left, second-placed Borussia Dortmund are just five points behind the leaders and Guardiola went for the old cliche of “every game is a final now” with Bayern looking to become the first team to win four successive German titles. Centre-backs Javi Martinez, Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng are all still sidelined for Bayern against a Cologne side on a high after beating Hanover 2-0 last weekend.
That was their first victory in five league games and their first clean sheet since November. But they have lost three of their four home games so far in 2016 and Bayern have won all of their last five games against Cologne, scoring 17 goals and conceding only two.
Tomorrow, Augsburg host Dortmund knowing the last time they faced Thomas Tuchel’s side, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 drubbing in October. The Gabon striker loves playing Augsburg having scored seven goals in six appearances against them.
Aubameyang has netted 22 times in the league this season but has gone three games without scoring, leaving him two goals behind the Bundesliga’s leading marksman, Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski.
Dortmund are the only Bundesliga side not to lose a league game in 2016, picking up 23 of a possible 27 points.
Germany midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is set to sit out the trip to Bavaria with a bruised foot, but striker Adrian Ramos could start as Tuchel rotates his squad after playing Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday in the Europa League. There is a fair chance Bayer Leverkusen’s away clash at Stuttgart will yield goals after their last meeting finished in a 4-3 win to Roger Schmidt’s men.
Both teams are in unpredictable form and Leverkusen’s defence is ravaged by injuries.
Fixtures
(All times 4:30pm unless stated)
Today: VfL Wolfsburg v Darmstadt, Hamburg v Hoffenheim, Werder Bremen v Mainz, Cologne v Bayern Munich, Hertha Berlin v Ingolstadt, Eintracht Frankfurt v Hanover 96 (7:30pm)
Tomorrow: VfB Stuttgart v Leverkusen, Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund (6:30pm. – AFP.
Online Reporter