Bayern Munich to play FC Barcelona in marquee quarterfinal matchup
FC Bayern Munich advance onto the quarterfinal stage as Champions League favorites following their demonstration against Chelsea. The Bundesliga champions netted seven goals in two games against the Blues (3-0, 4-1) and are clearly the best team in the world right now.
FCB clash
FC Bayern vs FC Barcelona will highlight the quarterfinal stage of the special 2020 UEFA Champions League edition. Indeed, there will not be a home and away matchup as the winner of the tie will solely be decided on a game in Lisboa. Bayern Munich have been the best team since the restart in May. They claimed the German league and cruised onto the quarterfinal, humiliating Chelsea both in London and in Munich.
FC Barcelona lost the La Liga title to Real Madrid and deliver a strong first-half performance oust Napoli where they scored three goals. The Catalans reach the quarterfinal stage of Europe’s top competition of the 13th time in a row. They will have a uphill battle against the Bavarians.
Reactions
FC Bayern’s coach Flick
“I was very happy. We wanted to win and pick up from where we left off, and the team did that very well. Chelsea have an exciting team with immense pace in attack, but we did brilliantly – the first 30 minutes were top-class. Chelsea didn’t have a chance. What marks out this team is that they stand together on the pitch as a team. As a coaching staff, we exemplify that. I can’t fault much today.
Now it’s important that we recover. We’ll prepare well [FC Barcelona] and hope that we can show our strengths again. We want to bring intensity and our qualities into the game against Barcelona as well.”
Forward Lewandowski added:
“The most important thing is that we attacked well and had fun. We know we had to get into our rhythm straight away and we did that really well. That was important for the rest of the tournament, too. We have to play well as a team. Barcelona are always dangerous. We need to show our quality.”
Chelsea’s coach Lampard points out the learning experience for his young squad:
“We were caught cold early on with the two goals in the first part of the game, which is disappointing, but I want to focus on the resilience and performance levels of a lot of players in the team,’ said Lampard afterwards.
It is a good exercise for us, to look at a team like Bayern and the Champions League experience they have in their ranks, hundreds of appearances through their team, and we had young players in their debut seasons. Reece James went toe to toe with top players and put in an incredible individual performance.”
