Vincent Kompany hopes that the fourth time will be lucky because he wants to lead Bayern Munich to their first victory over Bayer Leverkusen since he took over the club.
Bayern welcomes the Bundesliga champions in the Allianz Arena on Wednesday in the first stage of their last 16 draw in the Champions League.
But it has been Xabi Alonso that this fixture has had better since he came to Leverkusen in October 2022.
Indeed, under the Spaniard Leverkusen are unbeaten in their six games against Bayern over all the matches, who won three and draw the rest of those games.
They also held a clean slate in three of their last four against Bayern, after they have not kept any of them in their previous 15 games, with 42 goals.
And Kompany said that the chance of victory of his team would ride the small details between two strong sides, signed twice with Leverkusen and losing in the DFB Pokal this season.
“Neither I nor Xabi Alonso can influence the ball. Both teams have many individual qualities that will influence the game,” Kompany told a press conference on Tuesday.
“You can plan as much as you want for these games, but it is the players who have to do it.”
“Each of the three games were different stories. But they were all played on the limit.”
Sprinting to the #ucl Matchday tomorrow
The boys are locked up for Leverkusen #fcbayern #miasanmia | #Fcbb04 #ucl pic.twitter.com/9zgsi4elgf
– FC Bayern (@fcbayernen) 4 March 2025
The last meeting between the two parties came back in February, with Bayern able to hold a 0-0 draw, completely dominated by the Alonso team.
Leverkusen registered an expected goals (XG) count of 2.16 of their 15 shots, while he also limited Bayern to only two attempts, which gathered an XG of only 0.05.
But it is the side of Kompany that has the advantage in the Bundesliga rankings, with an eight -pointed lead over the second placed Leverkusen with 10 more games.
“We are not going into the game to do a little less this week and a little more next week,” Kompany said about their two-legged Champions League-equal game.
“We hope that as a team has solutions for the qualities of Leverkusen and tomorrow, not only as a team but also individually, to deliver the best performance.
“(The two legs) definitely play a role. We know that tomorrow is not about everything or nothing.
“There are two games, but we still play at home and that means that something special can happen.”
This will be the first meeting ever between Bayern and Leverkusen in a major European competition.
The 33-way Bundesliga champions won their last game against the German opposition in the Champions League and beat Borussia Dortmund in the 2012-13 final.
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