Ahead of his Champions League clash with Liverpool, Bayern Munich veteran Arjen Robben has declared Anfield to be his "worst stadium". Liverpool will take on Bayern in the first leg of their Champions League fixture on Tuesday. This statement is understandable as the Dutch has had some not-so-good memories of the ground when he was with Chelsea. Back in the day, Chelsea were defeated 1-0 on aggregate by eventual winners Liverpool in the 2004-05 Champions League semi-finals. And then again, he had to taste defeat on penalties to Liverpool at exactly the same stage in 2006-07.
'There always has to be a negative one'
"I think, if you ask [about] the worst stadium for me, it's probably Liverpool," the 35-year-old Dutch winger told The Guardian . "You always have your favourite opponent and there always has to be a negative one." Speaking about the aforementioned matches, Robben said: "At that time [Liverpool] were really capable of being this cup fighter team, also in the FA Cup or [League] Cup.
After a rather slow start to their own campaign in Bundesliga, Bayern have finally found momentum and now are 2 points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund. They will enter the match against Liverpool after having to earn a win against Augsburg on Friday. "Their second goal is a good example. The second ball with all that room in the back is something that can't happen, Liverpool would punish us for that sort of mistake." manager Niko Kovac said. "Defensively, we need to be better working backwards, and that is something that will be going into my analysis," he added.
Jurgen Klopp, who knows a thing or two about Bayern Munich, says that his side has to be very wary of the threat and that they have analysed them very closely and will devise strategies accordingly. "You watch always the results and goals, but full games it's different," said the Reds' manager. "[I've watched] five or six and now we have the more detailed analysis, and it's just quality. It's a mix of quality and experience," Klopp said.
