TOURNAMENT – Champions League

MATCH – Bayern Munich (Home) at Old Trafford

DATE & TIME – 1st April 2014, 19:45 GMT (2nd April 2014, 01:15 IST)

Pre-Match Press Conference Transcript

Pep Guardiola: “Like a trainer, for me, it is an honour for me to go to Old Trafford. I was in Old Trafford like a player when I was 19 or 20 years old, so its long time ago. Like a trainer, I’ve never been there so for me, its an honour – like a coach from Bayern Munchen to go to one of the mythical stadiums in the world, one of the best teams in the world. We know that in Premier League, they didn’t make a good season. Normally, Manchester United are to fight in there, but Champions League is another competition and normally, in this competition, we play the history and play the emotions and play the feelings in 90 minutes + 90 minutes. And I am pretty sure that Rooney and his teammates are going to make the best performance possible to beat us.”

“When we expect they are going to play like, maybe they played this season, we’ll make a huge mistake and we are going to try to prepare as much as possible and to know the dark problems and the weakness problems of United and beat them.”

Philipp Lahm: ” We are the defending champions which is why we are one of the favourites to win the tournament, but Manchester is a great team. Despite their current problems, United is a massive club with great history and we cannot be fooled by their current league position. They have outstanding individual quality but I do believe we have a good chance to progress to the semi-finals if we play to our full potential in both legs.”

“The two clubs have fought many a great battle in the past. I’m really looking forward to going to Manchester. I’ve played in Old Trafford twice. The stadium is huge, and the atmosphere is fantastic.”

Arjen Robben: “I think its a good draw for us, and one of the reasons is that we’re playing away from home first. United aren’t in their best shape right now, but they are still a top team, so I expect two very difficult games. Nevertheless, I think we are all really looking forward to those games.”

“When you play in the Champions League, you only have two matches. Of course, you could argue that United are struggling this season but that doesn’t count. We’re playing two knockout matches against a top team now and we need to be ready for that from the first minute.”

Matthias Sammer (Sports Director): “Its a highly attractive draw against a team that’s struggling to achieve consistency both in the Championship as well as in the Champions League. They lost the first leg against Olympiakos 2-0, but in front of their home ground, they’ve proven a few times they’re capable of great things.”

“Playing at home or away first only plays a role when you’re insecure. We need to be confident and convinced to show a top performance, and then the home-or-away draw doesn’t matter.”

Thomas Muller: “I think anything is possible in a quarter-final. Manchester probably weren’t a 100% convinced they’d make it after a tough defeat against Olympiakos. But they showed a very convincing performance. And that confirms that United still have great quality, even if things aren’t going very well in the league.”

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