Champions League: Kompany and Bayern wary of Inter-Milan threat
A home first-leg against Inter Milan will provide Bayern Munich with a chance to forge ahead in the teams' Champions League quarter-final meeting at this season's final venue, the Allianz Arena, on Tuesday.
Bayern are hitting the business end of the season in form and eager to edge ever closer to a Champions League showpiece that takes place on home soil.
That said, Vincent Kompany and his Bundesliga leaders - conquerors of Bayer Leverkusen in the last round - will be wary of looking past the 2023 finalists Inter, who are currently rekindling memories of a treble-winning team that disappointed the Bavarians at the final hurdle of this competition some 15 years ago.
A 3-1 come-from-behind victory against Augsburg at the weekend had leading marksman Harry Kane on target for a division-leading 23rd time, and Bayern will need England's record goalscorer - who also has 10 Champions League goals this term - in his best form with the six-time European champions enduring a mini injury crisis. Attacker Jamal Musiala limped out of the Augsburg game with a hamstring tear, having previously scored a superb equaliser at the WWK Arena.
Thomas Müller, who confirmed at the weekend that he will leave the club after 25 years, is an option to replace him in the No.10 role.
Kingsley Coman, Aleksandar Pavlović, Alphonso Davies, Dayot Upamecano, and Hiroki Itō missed Friday's encounter altogether, as did captain Manuel Neuer, who is at least back doing goalkeeper-specific training. Kane himself suffered a swollen ankle on Friday but hopes to be fit in time for Inter.
"We've worked hard to get into the position we are right now, and we just want to take our chances; we want to be successful," Kompany insisted ahead of the visit of the Serie A leaders.
Italian league leaders Inter were given pause for thought on Saturday when the Nerazzurri let a first-half, two-goal lead against lowly Parma slip to finish with a point.
Ex-Bundesliga duo Henrikh Mkhitaryan (once of Borussia Dortmund) and Marcus Thuram (formerly at Borussia Mönchengladbach) combined to create Inter's second before the break during a game in which coach Simone Inzaghi served a one-match suspension.
The tactician had previously overseen his team's 1-1 Coppa Italia semi-final first-leg draw against rivals AC Milan in a game where one more Bundesliga blast from the past - one-time Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg and Karlsruhe midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu - netted an equaliser.
Bayern will be familiar with their former stars on show this week in goalkeeper Yann Sommer and defender Benjamin Pavard. At the same time, Tuesday's visitors had World Cup-winning forward Lautaro Martínez back from injury at the weekend.
Midfielder Piotr Zieliński continues to be laid low, while Dutch full-back Denzel Dumfries is a doubt for the defending Italian champions in Munich.
Inter coach Inzaghi said, "Bayern are an experienced Champions League team. They always reach the latter stages. For me, they're the favourites for the title alongside Real Madrid. It will be a difficult game against a very strong team in a beautiful stadium."
And Kompany said of Inter, "They're dangerous, not just on the counter-attack, but they're also good at build-up play and set-pieces. They score a lot of goals because they have very good players, but we do that too - we score a lot of goals as well. We can talk tactically about what Inter does well, but we also need to consider qualities like character, heart and emotion. That's all part of it - we showed in the last round against Leverkusen that we can do it. What's important to me is that we're mentally ready tomorrow and show personality."
