"Bayern Munich must find clinical streak against Liverpool" says coach Niko Kovac
Niko Kovac has challenged his Bayern Munich side to transfer their free-scoring Bundesliga form to the European stage to pip Liverpool to a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday (kick-off 9pmCET/8pmGMT/4pmET).
Since their goalless draw at Anfield in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with the English Premier League frontrunners, Bayern have won all three league games, racking up an eye-watering 12 goals in the process.
Eleven of those strikes have come in the last two outings — the 5-1 dismissal of Borussia Mönchengladbach and last weekend's 6-0 demolition of Wolfsburg.
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Bayern had smashed 31 goals in their previous seven last-16 ties before going to England, and with his team's cutting edge razor-sharp, Kovac wants them to go for the visitors' jugular.
"What we need to do is be more efficient up front. See an opportunity and take advantage. We’ve shown creativity in our recent Bundesliga games, scored plenty of goals and also not conceded many. I’m confident the fans will give us the boost to do that tomorrow," said Kovac, whose approach to the game will — of necessity — be a positive one.
"We need balance, but we also need to win no matter what, regardless of whether Liverpool score. They’ve got an advantage if they score, but we simply need to win. And the support we’ll get tomorrow, from our 70,000 fans, will be something we’ll never forget, and we need to take that out with us onto the pitch."
Rafinha is set to replace the suspended Joshua Kimmich at right-back while the good news for Bayern is that David Alaba has recovered from a tendon problem to return at left-back. Winger Kingsley Coman could also feature following an ankle injury.
Bayern's formidable front line — headed by Bundesliga leading scorer Robert Lewandowski — could find themselves in a straight shoot-out with their Liverpool counterparts, including ex-Hoffenheim man Roberto Firmino.
The Brazil international's strike partner, Mo Salah, has found the net 17 times — the same number as Lewandowski — in the English top flight this season, but has struck just once in his last eight competitive outings.
"It doesn’t make me more confident that Mo Salah hasn’t been scoring. It’s not important who scores, we’ll have to watch out for all their players," said Bayern's last line of defence, captain Manuel Neuer. "At set pieces they’ve got Van Dijk and Joel Matip as well. We want to stop them getting into scoring positions."
He added: "It's a final. It's two top teams against each other. No-one wants to make a mistake. The Allianz Arena will be on fire, for sure. We absolutely want to win."
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