Hoeneß may also have been thinking back to the last three knockout ties against Real, in which Munich always came off second best. One difference that could give FCB a potential advantage: this time, the second leg will once again be played at the Allianz Arena. Furthermore, the record champions are coming off a comfortable round of 16 tie, in which they dispatched BVB’s conquerors, Atalanta Bergamo, 10-2 over two legs. Furthermore, the FCB will have Joshua Kimmich and Michael Olise back for the matches against Madrid after they served their yellow-card suspensions last Wednesday, whilst several key Real players go into the quarter-final first leg with yellow cards already on their record and top goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois may also be out injured.
Fundamentally, the 74-year-old did not want to be tempted to simply attribute a possible treble to the team’s current form. “That’s too optimistic.” The honorary president also sees a major challenge in the DFB Cup, where Munich will face Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-finals in April: “That will be tough.” At least when it comes to the league title, Hoeneß was willing to commit himself and “would say, we will be German champions”.
In the league, the lead over closest rivals Borussia Dortmund stands at nine points ahead of matchday 27.