Bayern Now Favourites to Win Champions League?

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If you go back to the first few months of the 2019/20 season, it appeared as though Bayern Munich were in trouble. Following a 5-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, Niko Kovac left the club and Bayern Munich required a new manager. The German champions were 4th in the Bundesliga and turned to their assistant coach, Hans-Dieter Flick.

Flick had spent several years as the assistant coach of the German national team and played for Bayern Munich between 1985 and 1990. Two victories followed including an excellent 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund and 4-0 win at Fortuna Dusseldorf. However, the honeymoon was quickly over as Bayern Munich lost their next 2 Bundesliga games against Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach. Following the defeat against Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayern Munich found themselves down in 7th place in the Bundesliga.

Despite their poor domestic form Bayern Munich continued to deliver the goods in the Champions League. The club had already won 3 group games under the guidance of previous manager Kovac and Flick continued the good form by winning the second set of 3 group games to finish top with maximum points.

So, although Bayern Munich were struggling in the Bundesliga, they continued to win games in the Champions League. Fast forward to the current day and Bayern Munich have been on a fantastic run in the Bundesliga which has seen them win 8 of their last 9 games and remain undefeated since the 14th of December. This coupled with their great results in the group stages of the Champions League meant Bayern Munich came into their Round of 16 first leg game at Chelsea full of confidence and it showed in their performance.

The German club should have opened their account in the first half but wasted little time in the second half, scoring the opening goal in the 51st minute. With Chelsea struggling to recover from the fact they conceded an away goal, Bayern Munich took full advantage and doubled their lead just 3 minutes later. Serge Gnabry scored both goals and it wasn’t long before top scorer Robert Lewandowski got in on the act, tapping home from close range.

Chelsea sent the ball flashing across the face of Bayern Munich’s goal a few times during the game but they failed to create any real goal scoring chances. Bayern Munich fully deserved their 3-0 win and now have one foot in the quarter-final.

There has yet to be more dominant display by any team in this stage of the Champions League this season. Bayern Munich were excellent in forward positions and have discovered a fantastic attacking full-back in Alphonso Davies. This is a team who seem to be reaching their pinnacle at just the right time this season and that makes Bayern Munich serious contenders to win the Champions League.