Can any team realistically challenge Bayern right now?

Can any team realistically challenge Bayern right now? Simple question, not hating on other teams. I dont think Juve would be able to beat them either, just to show that im not hating.

With the right tactics, yes. Its very difficult to play them with a open game; you'll need have to 3-1 press, 1 touch passing and good off the ball movement, win the midfield battle and have forwards who finish every chance they get. Another tactic would be just to sit back and get them on the counter - it worked for teams against Barça 2010, wich in my opinion was even better then this Bayern.

Yes, a fit Barcelona can. Also, Dortmund beat them this season!

Had we not received that red card and Lukaku having false confidence we would have beaten them.

Imo , nobody can say really. It's not the same thing meeting them so early in the season and say , in a semi final.

Of course , they can lose ; any team has limits and weaknesses one may be able to exploit. But this Bayern imo is really great . The talent in abundance , a great coach in Guardiola , confidence being sky high , real work rate from everyone , Neuer the GOAT being Neuer the GOAT ..

If they don't have any injuries to deal with , the least i can think of Bayern , is reaching the semi finals of the CL whichever team they face . Even there i am not really sure who will halt them either , again the quality and effort they show in games is unbelievable. Ever since last season they think of themselves as world beaters and they really don't understand the difference between big games or week games , they dictate and have fun . Pep has already transformed last season's mentality into a necessity ; it's a real pleasure to watch Bayern play under Guardiola .

Having said that , sometimes they have been wastefull in front of goal in games , but that is something that may come and go in a season and it is something that can always be improved. It's not about having THE most clinical players , they have some of the best in the world there . It's just how some games go , you can always analyse but when you create so much , you can't really expect to even score half of those chances. Even if they don't really improve significantly on this , the fact they create so much and they dictate the play for almost the entire game , makes them an opponent who can easily score just 1 goal and take you out of the game just by it.

Leave aside the fact that they can obviously score at any given moment . Imo , it's almost inevitable that Bayern will peak somewhere after Christmas and reach that point where they will be able to score at least 1 goal after 4 chances . It's more than enough to stop any team really and if they don't have persisting injuries to deal with and Pep rotates the squad carefully , they can easily reach dat level again.

Of course , there will be certain teams who will look them in the eyes whatever they do , but they really have the quality again this season to reach yet another final , maybe even break Milan's record of consecutive european cups , it's not out of the equation really. That's an achievement this Bayern will have set as a historic target this season and imo they will throw everything they have on it.

The only requirement they don't really possess is luck , but such teams usually built their luck and with all that quality and support , they aren't even going to need much of it .

Khaled wrote:Yes, a fit Barcelona can. Also, Dortmund beat them this season!

Tbh , Dortmund will always have more chances to win Bayern than Barcelona will ever have , just for the way you play and just for the way Dortmund play . Although the game against Real showed very positive signs for Barcelona , it won't be near enough if Bayern continue as expected and you meet each other again deep into the Champions League.

Pray that you somehow don't meet them this season , because not only they won't restrict themselves with tactics or past meetings , but most important reason being , Guardiola knows Barcelona inside out and he has a really great team in his hands that he can utilise in all sorts of ways. I repeat , in all sorts of ways in the field. I've been thinking about the potential repeat of this game more than once and although you can never know in football , the chances of Barcelona eliminating Guardiola's Bayern in the CL are not good for you guys.

I am not even sure you will be able to express your game properly , if you meet them this season. Although i already concede that this post could already be in vain , in theory at least , Bayern has absolutely everything they need to stop Barcelona and if you don't do something about the CB duo soon , i am sorry to say it will be two very tough games for Barcelona , again if they meet this season.

Because Mascherano-Pique ain't gonna do it against Bayern , that much is clear in my book . Although many more important things may come before this , these games are usually settled in details and well , this could be one of those really. Again , this is a futile post since we don't know what will happen , if it ever happens in some months from now on , but i don't fancy your chances against Bayern .

We can beat them. Hope we meet in the champions league so we can get our revenge.

Aren't Dorrmund exactly challenging them right now in the league?

Dortmund have already beaten them ffs

I hope you meet too. These should be two absolutely fascinating games , whatever the outcome .

Seeing the Clasico I have finally faith that we can beat anybody, especially when Messi gets fit.

Abramovich wrote:Had we not received that red card and Lukaku having false confidence we would have beaten them.

Hah, get real.If you want to make excuses, they had key players missing from their starting 11 . Had that been a serious CL match, they would have destroyed Chelsea.

Dortmund seem to be their bogey team, so maybe them right now. Perhaps Barca too. Only 2 teams I can think of right now who are remotely close to Bayern's level.

Yeah , they have and with a fashion and they do challenge them in the league well enough so far. But it is not the same , say play them in a semi final. And once again , it's soon in the season , they have yet to really peak and show their very best. Obviously that goes for Dortmund and Barcelona , lol , but imo Bayern is a frightening opponent which has everything , absolutely everything to win Dortmund or Barcelona deeper into the CL.

But again , it's not an exact science , just saying what i think.

Barca fans are having the same reaction they had after they had beaten Milan

I'd say Dortmund. Barca I can see struggling to create chances again and they aren't the best defensively either.

What i think will happen in Munich at least . Pep and Bayern will put their foot on Barca's neck so hard , that they won't even have possesion come the end of the game. It's stupid to claim such a thing right now and i realise this , but if they continue on this road and avoid injuries when / if they meet them , i can see them winning Barcelona in the end.

I don't know about Camp Nou , but even there , they already have and still can choose to react in any way Pep seems appropriate. Free of injuries , they have that option , they don't have just the one option like most teams do. And they also have the quality to see it through in whatever ways they field to take a result in Catalonia , imo at least.

Bayern have been pushovers against Barcelona all these years , but since last season and especially under Pep i think they may turn to be their very own nightmare . You may talk about revenge Freecat but they have been hurt by you much more in previous years and if their sporting culture has anything to say and more or less the senior players haven't forgotten by now , i wouldn't speak about revenge so soon , even though i can see where you're coming from and obviously it's still on the cards.

Anyway. Even if i scratch all that , which is more or less just another opinion , the fact that they have Guardiola , the man who probably even knows the place where Xaviesta kissed on the mouth for the first time says it all. Doesn't that worry you enough , having to face Pep , who pretty much knows inside out all your ways , methods and players ?

Madrid can beat them. In fact we have recently (2-1 at the Bernabeu)

In a two legged tie it would be pretty tough though.

Real could be one of those teams like Barcelona and Dortmund , of course , if they get it together by then.. something tells me though you must find stability soon , because they are a step ahead already. Changing every now and then ain't gonna help you much against a Bayern who know what they want from games no matter the opponent.

Btw , Ancelotti saying he's not crazy enough to change Ronaldo's position and then playing him straight away as CF against Barcelona

Dear Carletto copying my playstation mastermind tactics when i pick Real

No, no team is on their level currently plus they have 3 quality subs in every position ffs. The only way to win against Bayern is in the final because its just 1 game.

Thats also the point that is so scary about Bayern. Gotze gets injured? Kroos comes in. Schweinsteiger gets injured? Thiago or Martinez comes in. Robben or Ribery get injured? Shaqiri or Muller come in. Mandzukic gets injured? Muller or Pizarro come in. The depth they have is just ridiculous. They could make 2 top top teams with their squad.

I think Real Madrid can do it. We can bore them to death with our play, then get a 3-0 win by default. Easy-peasy.

If Hertha BSC, Freiburg can cause Buyern problems... so can any top team, stop overrating them

Especially when Thiago comes back in midfield

Yes of course, we play the same way against Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga as we would do against Barca in the CL semi-final

Dortmund is capable of giving Bayern a massive challenge. Outside of that Leverkusen has as well and maybe Madrid (in Spain only) and perhaps Barcelona.

Best team in the world they are but even so they can lose one or two games. Think Dortmund would have the best chance against them. Don't think Barcelona would do very well.