Bundesliga
Champions League
24.11.2009 18:15:51
Louis van Gaal (r.) arrived from AZ Alkmaar over the summer; previously he had had spells with AFC Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona and the Dutch national team.
Hope against hope for Bayern
The situation is looking decidedly bleak for FC Bayern München. Louis van Gaal's charges must win at home againt Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa this evening at the Allianz Arena and hope that Juventus do not beat Bordeaux on home turf if they are to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Kick off 20:30 CET.
"It's like a final," said defender Philipp Lahm at the pre-match press conferece. "We're all under pressure and it's going to be backs-against-the-wall stuff."
Out of their hands
"We're relying on other results and that's not good," concurred coach van Gaal, who himself has come under a barrage of criticism in recent weeks due to a run of mediocre results on both the domestic and continental fronts. Bayern have not won any of their last four competitive outings.
Meanwhile, centre-back Daniel van Buyten did his best to stay positive, pointing out that current group leaders Girondins de Bordeaux still have plenty to play for: "We're all going to be Bordeaux fans tonight. They want to win the group and [their coach] Laurent Blanc is a winner - he always wants to win," said the Belgian.
"We are FC Bayern!"
Maccabi Haifa themselves are storming the Israeli top tier this season, winning every one of their ten games so far. Nevertheless, the visitors have lost each of their four Champions League fixtures this term and Bayern will be expected to fulfil their end of the bargain. "We have to concentrate on our own game and make sure we get the win. We need to remind people that we are FC Bayern," added Lahm.
In spite of the German international left back's rallying cry, Bayern will take to the field a weakened side this evening with several key men sidelined. Franck Ribery is still recovering from his knee injury and has been quarantined after his wife contracted swine flu. Meanwhile, fellow wing wizard Arjen Robben is still suffering from a knee problem and Luca Toni is out with a strained calf. With Ivica Olic also not at 100 per cent, the only good news on the injury front is that Hamit Altintop may recover in time after injuring himself in the warm up against Leverkusen.
Probable line ups:
Bayern: Butt - Lahm, van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber - van Bommel - Tymoshchuk, Schweinsteiger - T. Müller - Klose, Gomez
Haifa: Davidovitch - Meshumar, Keinan, Teixeira, Masilela - Osman, Katan, Kayal, Golasa - Ghadir, Dvalishvili
Andy James
Out of their hands
"We're relying on other results and that's not good," concurred coach van Gaal, who himself has come under a barrage of criticism in recent weeks due to a run of mediocre results on both the domestic and continental fronts. Bayern have not won any of their last four competitive outings.
Meanwhile, centre-back Daniel van Buyten did his best to stay positive, pointing out that current group leaders Girondins de Bordeaux still have plenty to play for: "We're all going to be Bordeaux fans tonight. They want to win the group and [their coach] Laurent Blanc is a winner - he always wants to win," said the Belgian.
"We are FC Bayern!"
Maccabi Haifa themselves are storming the Israeli top tier this season, winning every one of their ten games so far. Nevertheless, the visitors have lost each of their four Champions League fixtures this term and Bayern will be expected to fulfil their end of the bargain. "We have to concentrate on our own game and make sure we get the win. We need to remind people that we are FC Bayern," added Lahm.
In spite of the German international left back's rallying cry, Bayern will take to the field a weakened side this evening with several key men sidelined. Franck Ribery is still recovering from his knee injury and has been quarantined after his wife contracted swine flu. Meanwhile, fellow wing wizard Arjen Robben is still suffering from a knee problem and Luca Toni is out with a strained calf. With Ivica Olic also not at 100 per cent, the only good news on the injury front is that Hamit Altintop may recover in time after injuring himself in the warm up against Leverkusen.
Probable line ups:
Bayern: Butt - Lahm, van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber - van Bommel - Tymoshchuk, Schweinsteiger - T. Müller - Klose, Gomez
Haifa: Davidovitch - Meshumar, Keinan, Teixeira, Masilela - Osman, Katan, Kayal, Golasa - Ghadir, Dvalishvili
Andy James
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