Do you have an abacus at home? One of those we use as a toddler to learn to count at school. Peter Vandenbempt advises you to take it in stride tonight and tomorrow when you watch Salzurg-Bayern and Sporting against Manchester City in the Champions League.
Two teams of “Vollgas”
Back to November 2020. In the group stage of the Champions League, Bayern Munich and Salzburg will duel twice in succession on match days three and four.
In Salzburg it will be 2-6 for the Germans, in the second leg Bayern wins 3-1. Twelve goals in two matches. It inspires Peter Vandenbempt in our podcast De Tribune to use the term “abacus matching”.
But there is more than just a lot of goals why the game between Salzburg and Bayern on Wednesday evening could become very attractive.
The nice thing about Salzburg is that they always keep reinventing themselves. Even more than Leipzig.
“Both teams have in common that they play “full gas” football”, Aster Nzeyimana looks forward to the game. “Salzburg has kind of brought in the new Julian Nagelsmann with Matthias Jaissle. So it’s the old against the new Nagelsmann, so to speak.”
“I like to see such a match at 200 percent. What I also like about Salzburg is that they always keep reinventing themselves. Even more than Leipzig. If you want to see the stars of tomorrow, then you have to watch the Salzburg match .”
“Someone like Karim Adeyemi is the kind of player that makes my heart beat faster. Very fast, good dribble and can score.”
Bayern is never boring
Bayern Munich is a high favorite for the duel with Salzburg. Under Julian Nagelsmann, the club has again embarked on a new path.
“I think it’s comparable to the situation when Pep Guardiola arrived at Bayern,” Nzeyimana said. “They both took over a team that was at the peak of its ability. The challenge was to make it even better.”
“Nagelsmann has managed to make them even better than under Hans-Dieter Flick if you add objective statistics. They score more, create more chances and give away fewer opportunities.”
Salzburg is going to get a beating, predicts Peter Vandenbempt. In the group stage, Bayern reached 18 out of 18, scoring 22 goals in 6 matches and conceding 3.
“Bayern is never boring. The big difference between Bayern and other teams that are too strong for an opponent is that Bayern always keep playing. They don’t stop at 2-0. There is always something going on and that’s why I like them the most attractive team of the Champions League.”
“If I include the other abacus match of this week, I am talking about Sporting-City, then I predict 20 goals for the outward and return matches (so a total of four matches).
Bayern don’t stop at 2-0. There is always something going on and that is why I think they are the most attractive team in the Champions League.
“Sporting is still a preliminary round match for City”
When will Pep Guardiola win the Champions League with Manchester City? In yet another attempt, Sporting from Lisbon is an obstacle on the road this year.
Sporting are currently number two in Portugal, a country with two clubs in the 1/8th finals, yet the Portuguese seem little more than a pebble in City’s road.
“This is still a preliminary round match for City,” says Peter Vandenbempt. “City has not lost in the Premier League since the end of October. They have played PSG from the pillar to the wall in the group stage. Club Brugge really did everything to make it happen. make them hard, but they played so well.”
Or should Sporting hope for a strange decision from City coach Pep Guardiola, as Lyon and Tottenham also worked out before?
“No, he does it every year at a later stage in the tournament and since he only did it last year in the final against Chelsea, we can suspect that he may have unlearned it now.”
Guardiola makes a strange decision every year later and later. So we can surmise that he has now unlearned it.
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