There will be goals. That was Niko Kovac’s message to the world ahead of his side’s blockbuster clash with Liverpool on Wednesday evening. Whatever happens, there will be goals.
‘I personally believe that it won’t be another 0-0,’ said the Bayern coach at Tuesday’s press conference. ‘For us, that means very clearly that we have to win, and that is how we are going to approach the game.’
Kovac has little choice but to attack Liverpool. Their hard-fought 0-0 draw at Anfield last month has left Bayern in a delicate position.
Niko Kovac has promised goals ahead of Bayern Munich’s second leg clash with Liverpool
Bayern are in form having struck 11 goals in their last two games in the Bundesliga
German champions are enjoying their best form of the season and a force to be reckoned with
Unless they scrape through a goalless draw and a penalty shootout, they have to win. Otherwise they risk failing to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2011.
It should make for quite the showdown. Attacking Liverpool is a risky business, and even more so when their goals are potentially worth double.
One away goal needs Bayern needing two. It will be a tightrope act between positivity and control, but you can bet your house on the fact that there will be goals.
Fortunately for Kovac, his team are in a goalscoring mood at the moment. They have smashed in 11 in their last two games, and are enjoying the best form they have had all season. In this kind of shape, they are a force to be reckoned with.
It will be a tightrope act between positivity and control after a goalless first leg at Anfield
This is a different team to the one which came to Anfield determined not to get thrashed
Since the first leg last month Bayern have been slowly turning a poor season around
This is a different team to the one which came to Anfield with a grim determination not to get thrashed. Since the first leg, Bayern have been slowly turning a poor season into a potentially great one.
Having slowly munched through Borussia Dortmund’s nine-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, the goal frenzy of the last few weeks has now seen them overtake Dortmund on goal difference.
Back on their familiar throne, Bayern are beginning to look like Bayern again.
Ahead of the first leg, there was a real fear that Bayern could be humiliated by Liverpool. Three weeks later, there is still a lot of respect for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but the fear is gone. The pressure has lifted.
‘There is always pressure in knockout games, but I think it is positive pressure rather than negative pressure,’ said Kovac on Tuesday.
Even if they are knocked out on Wednesday, the Bayern coach deserves huge respect for the way he has turned the team around in recent months.
Clinging onto his job by his fingernails last autumn, the 47-year-old looked at times like he would fall victim to the big egos of the Bayern dressing room.
As Bayern stumbled from bad result to bad result, there were mutinous grumblings from the likes of Thomas Muller and James Rodriguez.
Yet Kovac held his nerve. He continued to give younger players such as Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka a chance, but also resisted the urge to stamp his authority on the team by picking a fight with an established player.
Instead, he has very carefully got everyone onside, and the result is that everyone is now playing for him.
That ability to draw the poison was on display last weekend, after Joachim Low’s bombshell announcement that three of Bayern’s stars, Muller, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng, would no longer be playing for Germany.
The players were furious at the decision itself, and Bayern were furious at the timing.
Kovac channelled the fury, making the surprise decision to put all three players in the starting line-up against Wolfsburg. The change scuppered his plans to give Niklas Sule some game time before the Liverpool clash, but Kovac took the hit for the sake of the mood.
Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller (L-R) have been dropped by Germany
It was the right call. With Low watching on the sidelines, Muller and Co put in a defiant performance and their team mates lined up after the game to express solidarity.
What could have been a toxic situation instead ended up pulling the team closer together.
That is all-important. The Champions League tie is still on a knife-edge, and there are any number of things which could decide it.
Joshua Kimmich’s suspension, or Virgil Van Dijk’s return could prove to be decisive. But with the tie so finely balanced, the positive atmosphere in the dressing room is a big boon for Bayern.
‘It will probably come down to who has the best form on the day,’ said Kovac on Tuesday. ‘I hope it’s us.’
Bayern are still far from perfect. But at least now they are a team brimming with positivity, no longer in awe of Liverpool.
They will not be sitting back and soaking up pressure this time. They will be up and at them. And whatever happens, there will be goals.
