Munich [Germany], April 19 : Ahead of his side's UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Manchester City on Thursday, Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel admitted that his side needs a miracle to progress to the next stage of the competition following a 3-0 loss to the English side in the first leg of the tournament.
Manchester City and Bayern Munich will lock horns in the second leg of the quarterfinal at the Allianz Arena, Munich. Manchester City had won the previous leg 3-0 at home in Etihad Stadium.
"We need a wonder, a miracle. I do not know if talking about a 4-0 or 5-1 is appropriate - you need to be realistic - but we believe in ourselves. It is the second leg. If we manage to play a good first half we can make it happen in the second. Everything is possible," said Tuchel, according to Sky Sports.
"It is a huge mountain to climb and that is why we need to believe in ourselves but we do not want to be dreamers. Dreaming for me is always close to sleeping and you cannot sleep for one second. We need to believe and believing means we have it in our own hands to make things happen. We need to make it happen through team spirit and performance and energy.
"We are not alone, we can fight as a team and we have our spectators who will be ready to fight with us," Tuchel said.
Tuchel, however, feels that the reported bust-up between Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane after loss in the first leg will not give a boost to his side. It was reported that Sane was hit in the mouth by Mane and the former Liverpool forward was consequently suspended for a weekend by the Bundesliga club.
"I hoped we would use it against Hoffenheim but we obviously did not," said Tuchel, whose side was held to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
"Now the case is already closed, the subject died. I do not think this will give us a huge boost," concluded the manager.
Manchester City registered a 3-0 win against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie at home in Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match, Jack Grealish lifted up the spirits of the home crowd and in-form striker Erling Haaland also had two chances, which were far from his best and could not be converted.
Rodri's curling shot in the 27th minute gave City the early advantage they were looking for as he set his left-footed shot wide of the far post and the ball was sent curling into the top corner, with Yans Sommer's scrambling going to waste.
Rodri's curling shot from distance in the first half gave Pep Guardiola's side the lead against the German champions before Bernardo Silva headed in a second after the interval. Leroy Sane tested Ederson repeatedly in between but Bayern's defensive frailty was clear.
At half-time, scoreline read 1-0 in favour of the home side.
In the 70th minute, Silva's turn to score arrived as he received a pass from Haaland and sent it past the keeper with a header. Yans tried to keep it out of the nets, but could not.
In the 76th minute, Haaland made full use of opportunity and freedom in the box to score, latching onto John Stones' header and he cushioned the shot beyond Yans.
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