Vincent Kompany hopes it will likely be fourth time fortunate as he seeks to guide Bayern Munich to their first win over Bayer Leverkusen since taking up the membership.
Bayern welcome the Bundesliga champions to the Allianz Area on Wednesday within the first leg of their final 16 tie within the Champions League.
But it surely has been Xabi Alonso who has had the higher of this fixture since becoming a member of Leverkusen in October 2022.
Certainly, below the Spaniard, Leverkusen are unbeaten of their six matches in opposition to Bayern throughout all competitions, profitable three and drawing the remainder of these video games.
They’ve additionally stored a clear sheet in three of their final 4 in opposition to Bayern, after not holding any of their earlier 15 video games in opposition to them, conceding 42 targets.
And Kompany mentioned his staff’s probability of victory would journey on the small particulars between two robust sides, having drawn twice with Leverkusen and dropping within the DFB-Pokal already this season.
“Neither I nor Xabi Alonso can affect the ball. Each groups have a variety of particular person qualities that may affect the sport,” Kompany informed a press convention on Tuesday.
“You possibly can plan as a lot as you need for these video games, however it’s then the gamers who should do it.
“Every of the three video games had been completely different tales. However all of them had been performed on the very restrict.”
Sprinting in direction of the #UCL matchday tomorrow
The boys are locked in for Leverkusen #FCBayern #MiaSanMia | #FCBB04 #UCL pic.twitter.com/9ZGsI4ELGf
— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) March 4, 2025
The final assembly between the 2 sides got here again in February, with Bayern in a position to maintain on for a 0-0 draw, having been utterly dominated by Alonso’s staff.
Leverkusen registered an anticipated targets (xG) tally of two.16 from their 15 pictures, whereas additionally limiting Bayern to only two makes an attempt, accumulating an xG of simply 0.05.
However it’s Kompany’s facet who maintain the benefit within the Bundesliga standings, holding an eight-point lead over second-placed Leverkusen with 10 video games remaining.
“We don’t go into the sport to do a bit much less this week and a bit extra subsequent week,” Kompany mentioned of their two-legged Champions League tie.
“We hope as a staff to have options for the qualities of Leverkusen and tomorrow, not solely as a staff but additionally individually, to ship the very best efficiency.
“(The 2 legs) positively play a job. We all know it isn’t about all or nothing tomorrow.
“There are two matches however nonetheless we play at residence and meaning generally one thing particular can occur.”
This would be the first ever assembly between Bayern and Leverkusen in a significant European competitors.
The 33-time Bundesliga champions received their final match in opposition to German opposition within the Champions League, beating Borussia Dortmund within the 2012-13 ultimate.