BAYERN READY TO WIN

Bayern Munich prepared to take on Arsenal in the last 16 stage of the Champions league just as they did in en route to the cup win last season.

The bad news for Arsenal comes in the form of Bayern Munich's manager Guardiola, who has transformed the club since taking over in the summer. He has made an already strong Bayern Munich team into one of the feared opposition in the world. The first leg will take place at the Emirates, while it will be followed by the match at the Allianz arena a few weeks later.

Former Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, who is currently in charge of the Switzerland national team, says that his former club are the clear favourites to get the win. This is partly down to the fact that Bayern Munich come into the match as the holders, while Arsenal have not won this trophy in this history. They are also going through one of the worst spells after having failed to win a trophy in the last eight years. Despite this, Guardiola has been giving Arsenal a lot of respect in the pre-match press conference, but Hitzfeld thinks that this match will be a mere formality.

Guardiola has not won against Arsenal in his previous two visits to the Emirates stadium.

"On the offensive, Arsenal are strong. But defensively there are some weaknesses because Arsenal do not defend in a compact manner. Arsenal are a very strong team, but Bayern are clearly better staffed and playing the better football. Especially in the backward movement or in the ability to press, they are still stronger than Arsenal.

They are the absolute favourites. But still they also need the necessary luck, depending on which opponents they meet in the quarter-finals or the semi-finals," said Hitzfeld to the Bundesliga's official site.

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