Preview
- Bayern Munich vs Maccabi Tel Aviv
Bayern Munich can secure their place in the knockout phase of the
Champions League with a win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv at the
Olympiastadion on Tuesday night, as long as Ajax fail to get a
result against Juventus.
However, Bayern coach Felix Magath is concentrating on the task his
own side has to face rather than hoping Juve do them a favour in
Group C's other fixture.
``We need to win and are orientating ourselves on our game and not
on Ajax,'' said Magath on Monday.
``We don't have any expectations from Juventus and aren't thinking
about their game.''
Bayern struggled to a 1-0 win over Maccabi in the first group game
thanks to a penalty from Roy Makaay and Magath admitted that his
side may have slightly underestimated their hosts, who were making
their Champions League debut on that occasion.
``Maccabi Tel-Aviv weren't easy opponents for Ajax or Juve so it's
not only us who struggled against them,'' he added.
``They have a young team with a lot of passion and a feeling of
togetherness, but our aim is quite clearly to get into the next
round tomorrow.''
Striker Makaay is hopeful a win can allow Bayern to focus their
attentions on staying at the top in Germany with their place in the
next round of the Champions League secure.
``We want to qualify tomorrow and then concentrate on our last
Bundesliga games before the winter break,'' he said.
``After tomorrow night, we want the Champions League to be dealt
with for 2004.'' Makaay himself is a minor doubt for the game as he
recovers from a knock picked up in the weekend 3-1 win over
Kaiserslautern, but both coach and player are confident he will be
available to try and add to his 22 goals in the competition.
``It's a big game and I hope to be involved in it,'' said Makaay.
The Dutchman is likely to be partnered once again by Claudio
Pizarro as Magath resists the temptation to give Peruvian
wonder-kid Jose Paolo Guerrero a full bow in Europe.
``Claudio Pizarro will start tomorrow and, as I don't intend to
play with three strikers, Paolo will remain on the bench,'' Magath
said.
Maccabi coach Nir Klinger, whose side are not mathematically out of
the running for a place in the next stage, is delighted with the
way his team have performed against some of the biggest names in
European football.
Alongside Ajax, Juventus and Bayern, Maccabi have more than held
their own despite being the clear group underdogs and they come
into the game in Munich on the back of their first win in Europe -a
2-1 victory over Ajax a fortnight ago.
He said: ``After being drawn in a group with three of Europe's
greatest teams, to still be in the competition going into the fifth
round of matches is remarkable.
``But we know tomorrow will be a difficult game as Bayern are
playing well at the moment whereas we have a few problems,'' added
Klinger, whose side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Maccabi Haifa at the
weekend - their third successive league loss.
``There is always a lot to lose in Europe, but a draw for us in the
Olympiastadion would be fantastic.''