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PRAGUE. — Holders Bayern Munich can clinch a spot in the Champions League soccer knockout phase today when they face Czech champions Viktoria Pilsen whom they swept 5-0 at home two weeks ago. The Bundesliga leaders sit at the top of Group D with nine points from three games, leading Manchester City by three points and CSKA Moscow by six, with Pilsen stuck at the bottom with no points.
If Bayern win at Pilsen, and CSKA do not win at Manchester, the reigning champions will make it to the last-16 for the sixth time in a row.
Last month, a brace from Franck Ribery and a goal apiece from David Alaba, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze handed Bayern an easy win over Pilsen.
Bayern turned out to be a merciless host, outshooting the visitors 35-0 with 22 attempts on target, putting Pilsen under what their coach Pavel Vrba called a “tremendous pressure”.
Bayern got a boost from a 2-1 Bundesliga victory at Hoffenheim on Saturday, scoring the ninth win of the current campaign and holding on to the league lead a point ahead of Borussia Dortmund.
The win with goals from Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Mueller also meant Pep Guardiola’s side have equalled Hamburg’s 30-year-old league record of 36 consecutive matches without defeat.
But the Spanish manager was far from happy with the game.
“It certainly wasn’t our best performance, but we’ve won it. Not everything was perfect, and we’ll need to correct the way we’re playing,” he said, looking ahead to the Champions League game.
Pilsen trashed FK Jablonec 6-1 in Friday’s Czech league game for only the second win from their last six league games.
“I believe the win would give us a nice boost,” said Pilsen defender Marian Cisovsky as his team returned to the second spot in the Czech league, behind Sparta Prague.
“We didn’t play the first game (with Bayern) as we had wanted at all, and we want to show a better performance to the home crowd,” added the 34-year-old Slovak, urging Pilsen to be “more vigorous and courageous”.
“The Bayern game will be completely different from the Jablonec tie,” said Pilsen midfielder Daniel Kolar.
“We have to try not to give them too much room. But Bayern are terribly strong so it won’t be easy.” Pilsen striker Stanislav Tecl, who scored twice against Jablonec, said “the mood in the locker room is better and that’s what we needed ahead of the important game.”
“We know that a few miracles have happened in football so we want to give it a try.”
Meanwhile, buoyed by their demolition of Norwich City, Manchester City will look to secure qualification for the Champions League knockout phase today when they resume hostilities with CSKA Moscow.
Saturday’s 7-0 victory over Norwich underlined City’s Premier League title credentials and they will enter today’s game at the Etihad Stadium with confidence high.
A win would give City a six-point lead over the Russians in Group D with only two matches remaining. With head-to-head results the determining criteria in separating teams that are level on points and with bottom club Viktoria Pilsen likely to drop points at home to group leaders Bayern Munich, victory would probably send City into the last 16. After consecutive group-phase exits in the last two seasons, it would represent a breakthrough achievement for new manager Manuel Pellegrini, who nonetheless benefited from a kinder draw than his predecessor, Roberto Mancini, ever enjoyed.
Ahead of the potentially decisive game, right-back Pablo Zabaleta says City can draw encouragement from their strong home record this season. Although they fell 3-1 to Bayern in their last Champions League home game, they have won all five of their league games at the Etihad to date, scoring 20 goals and conceding only two. “We feel very comfortable at home and our performances have been great since the start of the season,” said the Argentine. “Playing away we have dropped too many points, but when we play at home we are a very strong side.” — AFP.
Online Reporter