Bayern vs Atletico: Like school playground brawl

When talking about Bayern Munich's Champions League semifinal opponent Atletico Madrid, Thomas Mueller never mentions words like "goal" or "football festival". The 26-year-old striker instead gives the impression he is talking about a brawl in a dark corner of the school playground.

"We can imagine what will happen. We will have to deal with several smaller or bigger provocations and taunts. We know about the special role of the ball-boys at Atletico and the influence of Atletico coach Diego Simeone. A lot of things might happen that are beyond what is permitted," Muller predicted.

Bayern defender Benatia compared Atletico's arena Vincente Calderon with hell: "It will be like that and very complicated in general."

Juan Bernat is pinning his hopes of a fair game on the shoulders of the English referee Mark Clattenburg: "I hope they will clamp down on Atletico' s aggressive game." The German tabloid "Bild" predicted: "The coaching zone will turn into a swearing zone" after Atletico Simeone and Bayern coach Pep Guardiola are regarded to be hot-tempered.

At the same time 45-year-old Spaniard Guardiola and his squad are emphasizing that they are prepared for the highly charged atmosphere in Madrid. Therefore their game plan contains solutions like self-control, a strong will to make it into the final and to fight back.

"We can be hard too," Mueller said with a broad smile in his face. In this moment, he might have been thinking about his teammate Arturo Vidal, who is adored by Bayern's fans as their "football warrior" as he is the Bayern's hard man. After some problem to get adjusted to Bayern's special game style, the midfielder has adapted to the new environment.

"We know Atletico has a lot tough no-nonsense players for whom the game is a matter of life or death. Therefore it will be a difficult job, but we have developed into a strong team with a great spirit as well," Arturo Vidal said.

Bayern's second important task, next to the one to stay cool, is to break through Atletico's rock solid defense. Having only conceded five goals in this season's Champions League campaign, "This is what makes them one of the strongest teams in Europe," said Bayern defender Javier Martinez.

In the quarterfinals, 2015 Champions League winners Barcelona were unable to break down the wall, and was eliminated. Now Bayern will have to try to do better in the first leg. After all Bayern's team has scored 28 goals in the Champions League so far. "Solid work at the back and good ideas up front will do the job," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said.

In order to be prepared for Atletico's counter-attacks Bayern coach Guardiola might choose a 4-1-4-1 system with a four-man back line (Philipp Lahm, Joshua Kimmich, Javier Martinez, David Alaba), Xabi Alonso in front of them, a midfield of four (Franck Ribery, Arturo Vidal, Thomas Mueller, Douglas Costa) and Robert Lewandowski as a spearhead.

When they are in possession, the system could change into a 3-2-2-3 with right back Lahm moving to midfield to assist his team when attacking with his precise passing. But Lahm and left-back Alaba will not only have to stop Atletico's counter-attacks led by Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres, but they will have to support their own special forces along the flanks in person of Ribery and Costa.

Perhaps the toughest match this season, it will decide to a great extent how people judge the Pep Guardiola era in Munich. Once the season is over the Spaniard is off to pastures new at Manchester City in the Premier League. After Bayern failed to reach the final in the last two years after being eliminated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, Guardiola's last chance comes in 2016.

"In the last years our squad hasn't be like to one of today. We have more options in our offense and more tactical options," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said.

It might be an advantage for Bayern to play the first leg away game in Madrid as Atletico is expected to try to score at least one goal. Meaning, they every now and then will have to open up their game which could mean more space for Bayern.

The Germans are expected to act pretty similar like Barcelona did, meaning they will try to gain control of the game and dominate. "We will have put away our chances but in contrast to last year, our attacking game has more options. In the last few years we had to compensate for many injured players. Now our squad has gained additional quality," Philipp Lahm said. Lahm and Guardiola are on top happy about the return of defender Jerome Boateng who traveled to Madrid with the team for the Atletico game.

More quality seems to be arriving soon. Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels is about to join the Bavarian club as Bayern Munich has offered him a four-year contract and will presumably have to pay 30 million euros and a yearly salary of more than 10 million euros. Money Bayern can easily afford as the club in the 2015/2016 Champions League season have already earned nearly 100 million euros. Reaching and winning the final which takes place on May 28 in Milan would add an extra 15 million euros. Endit