European giants Bayern and Manchester United meet in Wednesday night's Champions League Group A opener at the Allianz Arena. The two teams, who hold a total of nine Champions League trophies, last met in an official match nine years ago, when Bayern won 3-1 in the second leg of their quarter-final match, while they last met in the group stage in 2001.
Bayern have won their first three games of the new season, with a 100% start ending in an exciting 2-2 home draw with Leverkusen on Friday. Kane's 300th career club goal was equalized by Alex Grimaldo midway through the first half before Leon Gretzka thought he had won the game for the hosts in the 86th minute, but Leverkusen snatched a point in dramatic fashion in the fourth minute of added time when Ezequiel Palacios fired in a penalty after a VAR review.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel feels his team needs more bite on the field to push themselves over the finish line, and the former Chelsea boss can't wait to right his wrongs in Wednesday's Group A opener against Manchester United, a team the German boss has never beaten at home in four previous attempts.
However, Bayern themselves have never lost at home to the Red Devils, winning three and drawing two, and Tuchel's side will be confident of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League for the 16th year in a row as they are favored to lock up the top spot in Group A ahead of Manchester United, Galatasaray and...
The German giants have proved their professionalism over the years in the group stage of the Champions League, where they have maintained an impressive 34-game unbeaten run - the longest in the competition's history - and will be looking to lock up a 14th consecutive group stage home win on Wednesday.
Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hagar has had a tough week off the field as he looked to lift the mood at Old Trafford with positive results and performances from his players last weekend, but the Dutchman now has a lot to think about as his side were booed off the pitch after a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to...
Danny Welbeck was the straw that broke the camel's back in the first half against his old club, before Pascal Gross and Pedro also put their names on the scoresheet in the second half to help a well-oiled Brighton side comfortably beat a disjointed United side who have now lost three of their first five league games for the first time since the Premier League era. United, who are 13th and already nine points behind league leaders and arch-rivals Manchester City, insisted United are not in crisis and encouraged his side to "stick to the plan" in a bid to change their luck. The Red Devils have two consecutive away games coming up, a top-flight trip to Burnley on Saturday and a challenging trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, having won just once in their last eight matches in the Champions League.
United have only lost more Champions League matches against Barcelona (five) than against Bayern (four), although Red Devils supporters will surely recall the historic win against Germany in the 1999 final under former boss Sir Alex Ferguson, one of only two victories against Bundesliga teams in Europe's most prestigious club competition.
Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich is a doubt due to tendon inflammation and will be assessed before kick-off, while Manuel Neuer (calf), Kingsley Coman (muscle), Raphael Guerrero (calf) and Tarek Buchman (hamstring) are all still in the treatment room. As for Manchester United, they are expected to start Diogo Dallo at right-back after Aaron Wan-Bissaka faced a "couple of weeks" off with an unspecified injury against Brighton. Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Terrell Malacia (all muscles), Mason Mount (hamstring), Sofiane Amrabat (back), Tom Heaton (calf), Amad Diallo (knee) and Kirby Mainu (ankle) are also on the sidelines but Ten Hagar has revealed that at least one of the players is likely to be fit on Wednesday.
SCORE PREDICTION: Bayern Munich 3-1 Manchester United Despite Bayern faltering a bit last weekend, it seems highly unlikely that Manchester United will try to pull off a win on Wednesday in their current predicament. With a fearsome front line that includes a cold-blooded goalscorer like Kane and a couple of quick attacking players, Bayern should be able to produce a big threat to the enemy's backline on their way to a Group A opener that will result in an outright win.
