Manchester City and Bayern Munich’s seasons are every outlined by one signing — for higher or worse.
As City prepares to complete off Bayern within the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday after beating the German champions 3-0 within the first leg, Erling Haaland has redefined the position of a contemporary striker.
Haaland has scored 47 targets in 40 video games in all competitions, and has a doable 13 extra video games to play this season. The Norwegian scored in opposition to Bayern within the first leg after demolishing one other German workforce, Leipzig, with 5 targets within the earlier spherical.
Then there’s Sadio Mané. The Senegal ahead was speculated to reshape Bayern’s assault right into a fluid, versatile menace much less reliant on a conventional striker when he joined from Liverpool final 12 months as Robert Lewandowski left.
However, Mané has contributed little on the sector in current months and upset squad stability. He has been a bit-part participant ever since a leg damage dominated him out of the World Cup, and was suspended from the squad for Bayern’s draw at Hoffenheim on Saturday for what the membership referred to as “misconduct” after confronting teammate Leroy Sané within the locker room following the loss to City. German media reported he had struck Sané within the face.
Tuchel has mentioned Mané apologized like a “role model” in a course of which had a “cleaning effect” on the squad’s environment, but it surely’s but to be adopted by any enchancment on the sector.
Bayern and coach Thomas Tuchel are staking their faint hopes on house benefit and a promise to lastly flip their workforce’s type round.
“We all know that we need a completely different performance. We know that we can do it but we have to bring it onto the field,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich mentioned after Saturday’s draw in opposition to Hoffenheim left Tuchel with two wins from 5 video games since he changed Julian Nagelsmann final month.
Center ahead Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who missed the primary leg with a knee damage, is again in coaching and will play within the second recreation. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has a damaged leg, and scrutiny of alternative Yann Sommer has elevated after he missed saves in opposition to City and Hoffenheim, whereas defender Lucas Hernandez can also be out long-term.