Bayern Munich handed interesting group in Champions League
Bayern Munich avoids major top clubs in the group stage during the Champions League group stage draws in Monaco.
Champions League has been Bayern’s achilles heel in the past few seasons. Bayern Munich has not won the prestigious European competition since winning the historic treble in 2013. The 2019/20 Champions League campaign is set to begin next month and Die Roten were handed an interesting group in today’s event at Monaco.
Bayern Munich is set to face tricky two games against Tottenham Hotspurs. Apart from a trip to England, Die Roten will also travel to Greece to face Olympiacos. The final team drawn in this group was Red Star Belgrade.
Die Roten will be favorites to finish first in this group. The first game of the group will take place during the third week of September, while the final game of this round will take place in the second week of December.
Niko Kovac and Hasan Salihamidzic were pleased with the outcome of the draws. Salihamidzic is expecting some tough encounters in the away games against Olympiacos and Red Star Belgrade due to the atmosphere created by the passionate fans of these clubs.
"“We can definitely live with that group. Our expectation is to qualify for the knockout stages as group winners, but we would be well-advised not to underestimate any team.”“Especially in Piraeus and in Belgrade we will not only come up against highly-motivated opposition but also a very passionate home crowd.”"
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Tottenham Hotspurs had a brilliant run in the Champions League last season. They finished as runners-up after a 2-0 defeat against Liverpool in the finals at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. Mauricio Pochettino has been delivering impressive results with Spurs in the last five years.
Olympiacos meanwhile qualified for the competition through qualifiers. The Super League side clinched an emphatic 6-1 aggregate win over FC Krasnodar to confirm their place in the Champions League. Die Roten has enjoyed a good record against Olympiacos, but they cannot afford to be complacent in these two games.
Red Star Belgrade also had to go through the qualifiers to reach the group stage of the Champions League. The Serbian side had a tight encounter against Young Boys this week as they managed to eliminate the Swiss side on away goals. Belgrade will be underdogs in this group, but they have the potential to cause an upset.
Kovac had a tough debut campaign in the Champions League last season. The Bundesliga champions were knocked out in the round of 16 by Liverpool. Kovac will have to come up with new ideas to compete well against top European sides. The games against Tottenham will be a good test for Die Roten going ahead in this competition.
Next. Lucas Hernandez targeting strong season with Bayern Munich. dark
Apart from a good Champions League draw, there were other positive things happened to Bayern today. Robert Lewandowski extended his contract ensuring that he spends his rest of the prime years of his career in Bavaria. Thiago Alcantara and Leon Goretzka also returned to first-team training after missing out the game against Schalke last weekend.