CLASH OF OFFENSIVE POWER AND IRON DEFENSE: BOTH UNBEATEN, BUT SOMETHING MUST BREAK

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Bayern Munich v Internazionale

April 8th, 2025

The tenth mutual encounter between these giant clubs will offer a battle of opposites - phenomenal attack against an almost impenetrable defense. The Bavarian side has been more successful in five of the previous nine duels, including the last meeting in the Champions League, when they won both home and away 2-0 in the 2022-23 group stage.

However, history shows an interesting paradox. Although Inter has won only two of seven matches against Bayern in the Champions League (1 draw, 4 losses), whenever both teams met in the knockout phase, the Italian club advanced. This happened in the 2009-10 final (2-0) and in the 2010-11 round of 16, when Inter progressed thanks to the away goals rule (3-3 aggregate score).

Inter is a true nightmare for Bayern in the knockout phase. Only Real Madrid (seven times) has eliminated the Bavarian side from the Champions League more often than the Nerazzurri (twice), who are one of only five teams to have done so more than once (Barcelona, Chelsea, and AC Milan also with two cases each).

Bayern can benefit from the impregnability of their own stadium. Die Roten are unbeaten in their last 22 home Champions League matches (17 wins, 5 draws), with Paris Saint-Germain being the last team to defeat them at Allianz Arena in April 2021 (3-2 in the first quarter-final match).

What makes this duel exceptionally interesting is the contrast in playing styles. Bayern leads the Champions League in the number of high-intensity presses in the attacking third, averaging an incredible 121.8 per match. Their average of 12.8 high ball recoveries per match is the highest since the 2021-22 season, when they themselves held the record with a value of 13.2.

On the other side stands Inter with historically the best defense in many years. The Nerazzurri have kept a clean sheet in 80% of their matches in this year's Champions League (8 out of 10 duels), which is the highest percentage in the competition's history for a team that has played at least 10 matches in one season.

Bayern's goal machine is Harry Kane, who has been directly involved in 50 goals in 55 Champions League matches (39 scored, 11 assisted), including 12 in the current season. Only Robert Lewandowski has contributed to more goals in one season for Bayern (20 in 2019-20, 16 in 2021-22).

Inter's offensive star is Lautaro Martínez, who has scored six goals in nine Champions League matches this season - the most for the club in one season since Samuel Eto'o in the 2010-11 season (8), whose last goal that season, incidentally, came against Bayern in the round of 16 second leg.

The conductor of the Bavarian symphony, Joshua Kimmich, has completed 1,015 passes in the current Champions League season, the most since the 2013-14 season (1,080 by Toni Kroos and 1,020 by Xavi). At the same time, he has created the most chances (35) and made the most line-breaking passes (201) of all midfielders in the competition.

Federico Dimarco of Inter is, along with Achraf Hakimi (8), one of the most creative full-backs in European football. In the last three seasons, he has recorded six assists in the Champions League, each of them for a different scorer (Džeko, Çalhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Correa, Martínez, Thuram).

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.

Photo: source XYZ


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