Bayern Munich will begin their journey at the FIFA Club World Cup on Monday as they face Egyptian side Al Ahly. The semifinal matchup will feature the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the CAF Champions League.
Both these clubs are no strangers to winning silverware. Bayern has been German champions 30 times and Al Ahly has claimed 42 Egyptian top-flight titles. It promises to be an exciting semifinal fixture between the two powerhouse clubs. Here are three things to watch for ahead of Monday’s match.
Bayern look to avoid an upset
After Bayern lost on penalty kicks to Holstein Kiel in January, Al Ahly should be encouraged that they can produce a similar result on Monday. The Egyptian club enters this match as the underdogs but they are capable of causing trouble for the German giants. Die Roten will certainly want to be wary of allowing Al Ahly to remain in the match for too long.
Against Holstein Kiel, Bayern went ahead twice but lost their lead each time and eventually lost the match. They will want to score early and often to avoid a situation where Al Ahly are encouraged to play for extra time or a penalty shootout.
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Al Ahly are in incredible form
According to the match statistics on Transfermarkt, the last time Al Ahly lost a match was last August when they fell 3-1 to Zamalek in an Egyptian Premier League match. Since then, all their matches have ended in either a draw or a victory.
Al Ahyl will be putting this incredible streak on the line when they face Bayern on Monday. Al Ahly is a club who are proven winners and they should not be overlooked. Die Roten remain firm favourites for this game, but Al Ahly’s record suggests that they are going to be a tough nut to crack.
Could fatigue be an issue?
Bayern has a quick turnaround on Monday as they just played Hertha Berlin on Friday. After the victory over Hertha Berlin, Bayern headed straight to the airport to travel to Qatar but they were met with a delay and had to spend the night on the plane. Eventually, they were able to take off to make the journey to Qatar. This certainly wasn’t an ideal situation to ensure the Bayern players were fully recovered from Friday’s effort. Hopefully, this won’t have too big of an impact on the players entering Monday’s match against Al Ahly.
Die Roten will have to play again on Thursday regardless of the outcome as there is a third-place match in the Club World Cup in addition to the final. A few days after either the final or third-place fixture, Arminia Bielefeld awaits on Matchday 21 of the Bundesliga season for Bayern. This is an action-packed stretch of the season and it will test the fitness and stamina of the players.