Ahead of Bayern Munich’s high-profile UEFA Champions League encounter against Barcelona at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, the German club’s president Herbert Hainer sat down for an interview with SPORT.
Talking about the upcoming clash, Hainer insisted that while Barcelona might have had difficulties against his team in the recent past, the match on Tuesday will hardly be anything like that.
“Barca are coming back, they have a great team even now, and they are such a big club!”
Further talking about the game, he added: “I don’t think it will repeat itself. Back then, in 2020, we caught Barcelona at a good moment, and then we were in captivating form, everything was going very well for us.
“But Barça is much stronger this year than two years ago, Laporta is the right president to return Barça to where it should be, and I expect an even game. Of course, I expect a win, but I expect a very close match.”
Hainer also spoke about Robert Lewandowski leaving Bayern Munich for Barcelona this summer and insisted that there was no ill-will between the German champions and the ace goalscorer.
“That is already a thing of the past. Everything is fine between Robert and FC Bayern, we have talked and everything is fine. We are looking forward,” he said.
He also added that he hopes that fans give him a proper welcome when the Pole returns to the Allianz Arena tomorrow, saying:
“I hope, and that is my great wish, that people are nice to Robert and that he has a friendly welcome because he played eight years with us, scored a lot of goals and decided a lot of games. And we won all the big titles.
“And in the end, everyone got what they wanted: Robert was able to go to Barcelona, Barcelona are happy to have Lewandowski and we have money to invest in our future. Everyone should feel comfortable and I hope that our fans will welcome him.”
When asked who he thought were the favourites to win the Champions League this season, Hainer said there were several teams capable of doing it and named Barcelona as a contender as well.
“You always have to count on Madrid and then on the usual suspects: Manchester City, Liverpool, PSG… and Bayern. In addition, Barça has once again formed a very interesting team: you always have to keep an eye on Barça,” he said.
The ine