Bayern braced for real ‘high quality’ battle

Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga form will count for nothing when they host Juventus in the quarter-final of the Champions League tonight.

Bayern are just one win away from clinching the title after setting a new club record of 10 consecutive league victories, culminating in Saturday’s 9-2 humiliation of Hamburg. But Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes is taking nothing for granted.

“It’s going to be a very high quality game between two evenly-matched teams. It’s going to be a typical Champions League quarter-final,” he said.

“Juventus are one of Europe’s top teams. They are very Italian, yet they are also very creative. They are very strong physically. Antonio Conte has done a great job with them in recent years and you can see his signature on this side.”

Juve flew to Munich on Sunday to acclimatise to the unseasonal conditions in the Bavarian capital. Snow was falling over the Easter weekend and freezing temperatures are forecast tonight too, but the Bianconeri will be ready.

“We have studied Bayern as much as they have studied us,” said coach Conte.

“We’ll try to find defects in what is a very strong team, and we have to find situations to hurt them without letting them hurt us.”