For the first year, with the new Champions League formula, clashes between teams from the same nation have become possible even in the Round of 16 and so, Germany will lose one between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen early: certainly two teams that can aspire to advance in the top European competition. If Bayern Munich has this possibility due to history, champions, current ranking in the Bundesliga (the Bavarians are first) Bayer Leverkusen is no exception and not only because it is the reigning German Champion but because it finished among the top eight, the initial phase of the competition, doing, therefore, better than its direct rivals who passed with some vicissitudes the play-off round against Celtic and who now meet their rivals a few days after the championship match. In the Bundesliga, it ended 0-0, a point that, in view of the final victory, was more pleasing to Kompany's boys but which has, once again, shown that currently, Leverkusen is recovering and is not far from last year's levels. The first act of the preliminary round is played at the Allianz Arena and here, differently from what has just been said for the championship, a possible draw would be more welcome for the Rossoneri who would then have the chances of advancing to the round at home but, in fact, it will be a total of 180 minutes played by top-level teams, certainly among the best equipped in the competition.

Bayern Munich's shape and key statistics

They took a risk with Celtic but, in the end, Bayern Munich against the Scots achieved their twentieth consecutive useful result at home, in the Champions League. Overall, the moment of Kompany's boys is still very good: 7 wins and 2 draws in the last 9. In the last 2 games played, against important opponents such as Stuttgart and Frankfurt, Bayern scored as many as 7 goals!

This season, Bayern Munich has played 18 times at home, winning on 15 occasions but, 2 of these 3 non-victories, have come against Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayer Leverkusen's shape and key statistics

4 wins and 3 draws in the last 7 seasons for Bayer Leverkusen is a decent score, especially considering that one draw came against Bayern Munich and another was then converted into a passage to the next round of the national cup against Cologne. Overall, the team has lost only 1 of the last 21 away games played.

In this edition of the Champions League, so far, Xabi Alonso's boys have done very well: 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat, scoring almost 2 goals per game: 15 in 8 matches.

Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen Prediction and Tactical Analysis

It is true that the last direct clashes between the two teams have been balanced and have never seen too many goals, on the contrary. Now, however, the feeling is that the two attack departments are really performing and that, also due to a rather aggressive expected conduct of Bayern Munich, the opportunities, on both sides, can arrive. The 4-1 winning of Bayer Leverkusen on Frankfurt and the 3-1 of Bayern Munich on Stuttgart (both away) of the last round of the Bundesliga, make the BetMines algorithm prediction lean towards a match with more than two goals overall.

• The BetMines algorithm prediction for the Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen match predicts an Over 2.5 goals at 62%
• The BetMines algorithm prediction for the Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen match predicts an Under 2.5 goals at 38%

Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen Predicted Lineups

Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Neuer, Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Goretzka, Palhinha; Olise, Musiala, Sané; Kane. Coach: Kompany.

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-2-1): Hradecky; Mukiele, Hermoso, Tah; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo; Tella, Wirtz; Schick. Coach: Xabi Alonso.