Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid Preview

UEFA Champions League record-winners Real Madrid will look to solidify their chances of reaching the final of this year’s UCL campaign when they travel to Munich on Tuesday to face German heavyweights Bayern Munich.

The Bavarians qualified for this stage of the tournament by beating Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate with a 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena making the difference. They will look to record a first-leg advantage here as they attempt to avoid a first trophyless season since 2011/12 by winning the UEFA Champions League.

However, it is not always easy against the Spanish giants. Both sides are used to playing themselves in this competition and no fixture has ever been played more often in UCL/European Cup history. Also, 24 of their 26 meetings have also come in the knockout stages (Bayern: W11, D3, L12).

But despite Bayern’s recent dominance of German football, they’ve struggled against Madrid and haven’t won any of the last seven H2Hs (D1, L6), a run that includes three straight home H2H defeats while conceding at least twice. They’ll seek to draw inspiration from going unbeaten across European home games, though, as since losing to PSG in April 2021 they have not lost in 15 UCL home games (W12, D3), culminating in three consecutive clean sheets (W2, D1).

Meanwhile, Real Madrid qualified for this stage of the UCL by beating last year’s winners Manchester City on penalties after a pulsating 4-4 aggregate score over two legs.

With the La Liga title almost wrapped up after a recent 3-2 El Clasico win over Barcelona, Los Blancos were able to bench some star players for Friday night’s 1-0 win over Real Sociedad. So, manager Carlo Ancelotti returns to one of his former clubs with fewer fitness and injury concerns than the number opposite Thomas Tuchel.

His side are now the bookmakers’ favourites to win the tournament with their win over City extending their UCL unbeaten run to 10 games (W8, D2). The runaway La Liga leaders have won five consecutive UCL away games, too.

However, it’s worth noting that aside from Man City, the only other side to have beaten Los Blancos in a European road fixture since February 2022 was German outfit RB Leipzig but Ancelotti’s men might be more encouraged by those three H2H wins in Munich and two victories in Germany already this season against Union Berlin (3-2) and Leipzig (1-0).