Neuer and Muller confident Bayern can get Champions League revenge against Chelsea

Joe Wright

Neuer and Muller confident Bayern can get Champions League revenge against Chelsea image

Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller think Bayern Munich should be confident of beating Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Bundesliga champions will meet Frank Lampard's side in a repeat of the 2011-12 final, which Chelsea won on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Munich.

Neuer and Muller played in that heart-breaking home defeat for Bayern, who responded in the 2012-13 season by winning the treble, which included a Champions League final triumph over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.

With Bayern having recaptured some better form since Hansi Flick took over as interim coach from Niko Kovac, particularly excelling in Europe, Neuer thinks his side can take "a healthy level of confidence" into the tie.

"We're looking forward to London, where we've had some good experiences," the goalkeeper said via Bayern's website. "They're a dangerous team, who we have to take very seriously and approach with concentration.

"Obviously, we want to get through to the next round. I think we can go into the games with a healthy level of confidence. We're happy with the draw: it's against an attractive and good team."

Muller said the 2012 final "has no relevance" to the last-16 tie, adding: "It's clear that you're not going to get any small teams in the Champions League last 16. We're fairly confident. I'm feeling good about the draw.

"Chelsea have players who can hurt us, though. They have individuals in attack whose qualities are well-known.

"But it's about the team performance, not individuals. My good feeling is based on us feeling very happy as a team at the moment. We want to be the favourites and justify that."

Full-back Joshua Kimmich said: "We'll go into the games with confidence. It's still a long way off, so we can't yet say what form the teams will be in, but I believe we'll go into it as favourites and I'm confident we'll progress.

"They're difficult to assess; they're not really on a consistent run at the moment."

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.