Barcelona, Bayern eye Champions League last-16

Next up for Bayern is Tuesday’s Champions League home match against Olympiakos, which could not even get a game in – its Greek league match against bitter rival Panathinaikos was called off because of crowd trouble.

While the stars at Barcelona and Bayern Munich put on masterclasses at home in matches that secured first-place finishes, it was Mesut Ozil who inspired Arsenal to its crucial 3-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb.

Should Bayern win and Arsenal beat Zagreb, the Gunners could then join the Bavarians in the knock-out stages by winning in Athens in their final group fixture.

Badstuber, 26, made his first start in the famous red Bayern shirt for seven months, but lasted just 53 minutes before being sent off. The German champions were already 3-0 up by that stage, thanks to goals by Douglas Costa, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller.

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller has set a new record as he became the youngest player in history to chalk up 50 Champions League victories.

Medhi Benatia replaced Lewandowski and restored Bayern’s equilibrium in defense despite the ten-men and minutes later, Costa’s sumptuous free kick from 30 yards got the home fans off their seat, but the effort had only ruffled the side-netting.

Porto, who drew 2-2 in Kiev in September, are without Brazilian defender Maicon but are still unbeaten this season in all competitions and a weakened team won 2-0 at lower-league Angrense in the Portuguese Cup at the weekend, Spanish forward Alberto Bueno getting both goals. Not this season. Not with midfield shortages more acute than ever for Arsene Wenger’s team.

“This is a final for us”.

It is the same story in the Champions League but both teams are in the top two.

A look ahead to Tuesday’s action in the Champions League as Barcelona and Bayern Munich look to clinch places in the last 16 and Arsenal and Chelsea face vital encounters. We have to take the right decisions and we obviously want to score as early as possible.

“I’m very happy here”.

However only five goals have found their way past Bayern in the Bundesliga so far while Enrique’s charges have shipped an average of one a game (12/12) so far this season.

However, closer examination suggests that it may indeed be Barcelona that have the edge when it comes to quality of shooting chance created.

They did tick all the boxes as they thumped the Greek outfit 4-0 at the Allianz Arena.

“So it’ll be a hard night, but more about effort and belief in ourselves than fear”.