It is not surprising to see Erling Haaland up front and healthy again, as his two goals at St. Mary's brought the Norwegian's PL goal total for the season to 30. The team's leading scorer has added 10 more goals in just six Champions League games this year, but Haaland hasn't had much luck against Bayern, losing all seven matches when playing for Borussia Dortmund. Haaland played a significant role in their advancement to this level of the league. He scored five goals in a commanding 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig, a German opponent, to seal an 8-1 overall victory in the round of 16. City met Bayern frequently during their early Champions League years, winning two of their three meetings here at the Etihad, with their only defeat on home soil coming when their current boss Pep Guardiola was in the away dugout with the German giants.

Despite sitting top of the Bundesliga, Bayern have been even more unconvincing than City domestically, and a mixed start for Thomas Tuchel at the helm puts increased pressure on this tie. His predecessor Julian Nagelsmann comfortably took care of a very difficult group containing Barcelona and Inter Milan, before they swept Paris Saint-Germain aside without much fuss in the last 16, with consecutive wins to nil. Bayern easily defeated championship challenger Dortmund in Tuchel's first game in charge at the Allianz Arena, but they then suffered a shocking cup loss to Freiburg and lost the DFB-Pokal at the quarterfinal stage. They exacted revenge during the weekend, defeating the same rivals in the league to keep atop the standings thanks to Matthijs de Ligt's screamer. Bayern has only preserved six clean sheets in their previous 16 games, giving up two or more goals on five occasions. One of Tuchel's key priorities will be to tighten up Bayern's defense.

This raises questions as they are ready to play against what is undoubtedly the best-attacking team in Europe, who are currently on a goal-scoring spree behind a particular prolific forward at the top of the pitch. Tuchel has experience in this competition though, having been to the Champions League finals in both 2020 and 2021. He defeated Guardiola's City team with Chelsea in the 2021 final, just a few weeks after doing the same to them in the FA Cup semifinals.

(image by: Manchester City FC)