Heavyweights Bayern intend to show full breadth of envied talent pool against Villarreal

Davies ready to team up with Lewandowski in fight for Champions League semi-final spot

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  Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer makes a save during training on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, on the eve of their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Villarreal. Getty

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  Bayern's Marcel Sabitzer at Saebener Strasse training ground in Munich. Getty

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  Bayern attacker Robert Lewandowski with manager Julian Nagelsmann. Getty

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  Niklas Sule of Bayern Munich during training. Getty

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  Bayern defender Lucas Hernandez at training. Getty

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  Bayern attacker Thomas Muller training ahed of the Champions League match with Villarreal. Getty

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  Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann. Getty

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  Robert Lewandowski training with Bayern teammates ahead of the Villarreal game. Getty

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  Lucas Hernandez of Bayern Munich at the Saebener Strasse training ground. Getty

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  MUNICH, GERMANY - APRIL 05: Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern München looks on during a training session at Saebener Strasse training ground on April 05, 2022 in Munich, Germany. FC Bayern will face Villarreal CF in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match on April 6, 2022. (Photo by Sebastian Widmann / Getty Images)

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  Bayern Munich attacker Robert Lewandowski at training. AP

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  Bayern attacker Thomas Muller puts on a bib during training. Getty

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  Bayern's Tanguy Nianzou and Dayot Upamecano during training. Getty

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  Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sane share a joke during training. Getty

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  Bayern's Kingsley Coman during training. Getty

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  Robert Lewandowski, Leon Goretzka, Jamal Musiala, Niklas Sule and Leroy Sane during Bayern's training session. Getty

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  Bayern's Thomas Muellerpasses the ball watched by Benjamin Pavard. AFP

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  Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann oversees training. AP

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  Bayern's Marcel Sabitzer, right, with Marc Roca. AFP

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  Robert Lewandowski with Niklas Suele arrive for the Bayern training session. AFP

As the team bus of Bayern Munich, a club on course for their 10th successive Bundesliga title, exited Spain’s Mediterranean highway towards the small town where they will contest a place in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, nobody was being coy about status. “We are the favourites,” acknowledged Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern’s head coach about the meeting with underdogs Villarreal.

He could hardly say otherwise and keep a straight face. The last outing of the Bayern juggernaut in this competition was the 7-1 victory, in Munich, over RB Salzburg; the last time Nagelsmann brought his team to Spain, they beat Barcelona 3-0, in the group phase.

Villarreal may be one of the more potent attacking sides in La Liga, but they are only seventh in the table. Besides, their 48 goals from 30 matches so far this season are not so different than the 45 Robert Lewandowski has scored all on his own in 38 club matches for Bayern since August.

At the same time, Nagelsmann knows that within the 23,000 Estadio de Ceramica lurks a seasoned giant-killer. Villarreal made it into the last eight of club football’s principal competition having made as good use as any club ever has of the entry-route that allows the Europa League holders into the Champions League when that club have not finished in the domestic league positions that normally grant access.

In this campaign, they have survived the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored in both Manchester United’s victories over Villarreal in the group stage, and of the most expensive signing of 2022 so far.

Dusan Vlahovic scored within seconds of the first leg of their last-16 tie against Juventus. Villarreal still ended up inflicting a headline-making scoreline on Juve - 3-0 in the second leg, in Turin; 4-1 on aggregate - to earn their date with Lewandowski and company.

Villarreal manager Unai Emery faces an uphill battle against Bayern. AP

The bad news for Unai Emery’s upstarts came from Nagelsmann’s announcement that Bayern’s impressive range of suppliers of bespoke passes to Lewandowski might look even stronger than anticipated. The whippet-fast left-back Alphonso Davies is ready to return after almost four months recovering from, first, Covid and then the heart muscle issues that followed his coronavirus infection.

Davies - whose recuperation period meant he missed out on last month’s celebrations of his country, Canada’s first qualification for a World Cup since the 1980s - has travelled with the Bayern squad to Spain. Nagelsmann said: “I have in my mind that he could start the game. All the tests are positive, but I will consult with the staff on the morning of the match.”

Nagelsmann is also hopeful Leon Goretzka, the central midfielder, will be fit. His only confirmed absentees are the injured Corentin Tolisso, understudy to Goretzka, and Eric Choupo-Moting, who has had Covid but whose opportunities generally come from the bench or when Lewandowski is unavailable.

Alphonso Davies is in contention to return to the Bayern Munch line-up to face Villarreal. AFP

In short, Bayern intend to show small-town Villarreal almost the full breadth of their envied strength-in-depth. The accusation that the serial German champions have accumulated too much talent for the competitive health of their own league has been levelled against them frequently. At the weekend, it became the source of light-hearted mocking because of an incident during the 4-1 Bundesliga victory over Freiburg.

Late in the match, Bayern had 12 players - all international stars, naturally - on the pitch because of a misunderstanding around a double substitution made by Nagelsmann. The error arose partly because one of the substituted players, winger Kingsley Coman, had not seen his number on the fourth official’s board.

The contest between 12 and 11 lasted only a few seconds of active play, before Coman left the pitch. But Freiburg have lodged a complaint with the German Football Association, the DFB. They could be awarded a 2-0 win and the 4-1 result erased.

Robert Lewandowski's 45 goals for Bayern Munich are only three less than all the goals Villarreal have scored this season. Getty

Bayern already lead second-placed Borussia Dortmund by nine points with six fixtures to play, but the issue was still a distraction for Nagelsmann as he looked ahead to the first leg of the European quarter-final.

“I am disappointed and surprised,” he said of Freiburg’s lodging a complaint. “It’s not as if they could have done anything in those few seconds.”

Nagelsmann’s immediate concern is how to whittle down 14 into 11 against a “solid and competitive” Villarreal. “I’ve just drawn up my possible team with a ruler and pen,” he told reporters, “and there are still three or four positions undecided.”