Champions League: Flick and Lampard face first knockout tie
February 25, 2020
As Bayern Munich's players ran through their paces at training on Monday, they broke into something between a chant and a song. It wasn't a tribute to the fans who will follow their flight path to London but to their coach, who was celebrating his 55th birthday.
Though he's been round the coaching block a few times in backroom roles with the German national team and others, Tuesday's meeting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will be Hansi Flick's first taste of the Champions League knockout phase. The same will be true of the man in the opposite dugout, though with Frank Lampard just 41, that's perhaps to be expected.
Bayern fans, as well as Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Müller, will have bad memories of the former England international from Bayern's defeat to the Blues on home turf in the 2012 final. While the current Bayern trio went on to lift the trophy the following year, Flick never had a chance to avenge the defeat he suffered in the 1987 European Cup final with Bayern against Porto in Vienna.
Titles and turnaround
Flick played on the right of a midfield three alongside national team superstars Lothar Matthäus and Andreas Brehme back then but never made the grade for Germany himself. He did however pick up four Bundesliga titles with Bayern despite making just 104 appearances.
The turnaround he has inspired since taking the coaching reins has taken Bayern back to the top of the table and reaffirmed them as favorites. But despite the positive feeling around the club at the moment, Flick will know that failure in the Champions League can be fatal for the man in his position.
"A good result would be for us to score a goal. That was a bit of a problem last year against Liverpool," said Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge at the airport on Monday. A little reminder of the beginning of the end for Flick's predecessor Niko Kovac.
This Chelsea outfit are not as formidable as the 2012 version or as eventual winners Liverpool were last year and, despite their 2-1 Premier League win over London rivals Tottenham on Saturday, Rummenigge is confident.
"Our goal is to reach the quarterfinals. The coach will have something up his sleeve. We're well prepared and know what to expect," he added.
Experience vs. youth
One trick Flick has already pulled from his sleeve is revitalizing Müller, with the 30-year-old's tally of 14 Bundesliga assists in 22 games a new league record at this stage. Another of Bayern's 30+ plus club, Robert Lewandowski, is on course for his best-ever scoring season having notched 25 in 23 league games this term and 10 in his five Champions League matches.
Such experience is not something Lampard counts on at Chelsea with the vast majority of his first team regulars under 25. The likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and former Borussia Dortmund winger Christian Pulisic have sparkled at times but also endured the difficult periods often faced by young players.
Though the now overturned transfer ban and his status as a player have allowed Lampard more leeway than most of his predecessors, Chelsea are facing a battle to qualify for this competition next year after a patchy run of form.
Such a season is not tolerable in Bavaria, as Flick knows. Tuesday may bring an experience less familiar to him than to many of his players, but he has little margin for error.