Almost seven years after swapping Munich for Manchester, Josep Guardiola faces his former club as German champions Bayern München visit their English counterparts Manchester City for the first leg of their Uefa Champions League quarterfinal.
Guardiola guided Bayern to three Bundesliga titles – and three Uefa Champions League semifinals – during his three years in Munich and will now look to plot a way past the German champions in what is the first knockout meeting between the clubs.
Bayern, who on 24 March replaced Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel – coach of Chelsea when they beat City in the 2021 final – are looking to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2019/20, when they claimed their sixth European Cup. City have made the last four in each of the last two seasons, although they suffered three successive quarterfinal exits under Guardiola before that.
The sides reached the last eight in contrasting fashion, Bayern coming through a heavyweight round of 16 contest against Paris Saint-Germain while City eliminated German opposition at the same stage, a 7-0 second-leg victory at home to Leipzig equalling their biggest win in Uefa competition.
This is the only one of this season's Uefa Champions League quarterfinals between reigning domestic champions.
The winners of this tie will face Real Madrid or Chelsea in the semifinal.
Previous Meetings
This is the sides' seventh meeting, with each having recorded three victories. All six of those contests came in the Uefa Champions League group stage between September 2011 and November 2014.
Each side recorded a 2-0 home victory in 2011/12, Mario Gomez's first-half double (38, 45+1) giving Jupp Heynckes' Bayern a Matchday 2 win in Munich before David Silva (36) and Yaya Touré (52) earned City the points in Manchester on Matchday 6. Bayern finished top of Group A on 13 points, with Roberto Mancini's City eliminated having finished third on ten.
The roles were reversed in 2013/14, by which time Guardiola was in charge of Bayern, each game finishing in an away win. Franck Ribéry (7), Thomas Müller (56) and Arjen Robben (59) scored in Bayern's 3-1 victory in Manchester on Matchday 2, Álvaro Negredo's 79th-minute strike City's only response.
Müller (5) and Mario Götze (12) gave Bayern an early two-goal cushion in Munich on Matchday 6, but David Silva (28) and Aleksandar Kolarov (59pen) brought City level before James Milner's 62nd-minute winner. Bayern still finished top of Group D ahead of Manuel Pellegrini's City on head-to-head record after each side had collected 15 points.
Both teams also progressed in 2014/15, although Guardiola's Bayern finished on 15 points, seven above Pellegrini's City in Group E. They kicked off with a 1-0 win against their English opponents in Munich, former City defender Jérôme Boateng scoring a 90th-minute winner. The tables were turned in Manchester on Matchday 5, Sergio Agüero's added-time goal completing his hat-trick (22, 85, 90+1) and snatching a 3-2 victory; Xabi Alonso (40) and Robert Lewandowski (45) were on target for Bayern.
Form guide
Man City
City's record in European Cup quarterfinals is W3 L3:
2021/22 Atlético de Madrid W 1-0 (1-0 h, 0-0 a)
2020/21 Borussia Dortmund W 4-2 (2-1 h, 2-1 a)
2019/20 Lyon L 1-3 (n)
2018/19 Tottenham L 4-4 away goals (0-1 a, 4-3 h)
2017/18 Liverpool L 1-5 (0-3 a, 1-2 h)
2015/16 Paris Saint-Germain W 3-2 (2-2 a, 1-0 h)
This is City's 12th Uefa Champions League campaign, all in succession; they have featured every season from 2011/12 onwards.
Including this season, the Manchester club's last ten campaigns have all stretched into the knockout rounds, their best performance coming in 2020/21 when they reached a first European Cup final only to lose 1-0 to fellow English side Chelsea, under new Bayern boss Tuchel, in Porto.
In 2021/22, City finished first in Group A on 12 points, one ahead of Paris, having won four of their six games. They then beat Sporting CP (5-0 a, 0-0 h) and Atlético de Madrid (1-0 h, 0-0 a) but were eliminated by eventual champions Real Madrid in the semifinals (4-3 h, 1-3 a aet).
This season the Manchester club scored 11 goals in winning their first three games, sealing qualification with a goalless draw at Copenhagen on Matchday 4. They were also held 0-0 at Borussia Dortmund in their next fixture before a 3-1 home victory against Sevilla.
Guardiola's side have now finished first in their Uefa Champions League group for six successive seasons.
City drew 1-1 at Leipzig in the round of 16 first leg before that 7-0 home win in the return, in which Erling Haaland scored five goals – only the third player to do so in the Uefa Champions League – to become the competition's leading scorer this season with ten. That was City's joint biggest European victory, the other also coming at home to German visitors in the round of 16 second leg, against Schalke in 2018/19. They have now won their last ten home games against Bundesliga sides, nine in Manchester.
City won their fourth Premier League title in five seasons in 2021/22, the club's eighth league title overall – and sixth since 2011/12.
The Cityzens are unbeaten in 24 home European matches (W22 D2) since a 2-1 loss to Lyon on Matchday 1 in 2018/19, winning 16 of the last 17 with the exception of last season's draw against Sporting. Should they avoid defeat against Bayern, City would set a new English club record of 25 successive home games without defeat in the Uefa Champions League, overtaking Arsenal.
This season City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on Matchday 2 before a 0-0 away draw on Matchday 5.
A 3-1 defeat by Bayern in 2013 is City's sole loss to German opposition in Manchester (W12 D2).
City's 14-match unbeaten run against German clubs – with 13 victories – was ended by a 2-1 loss in Leipzig on Matchday 6 last season. It was their first defeat by a Bundesliga club since the 1-0 reverse at Bayern in September 2014.
This season's win against Leipzig made City's record in two-legged ties against German clubs W5 L2 with victories in the last four – all in the Uefa Champions League. They have never lost a knockout tie in this competition to German opponents. The last Bundesliga club to defeat them over two legs were Hamburg in the quarterfinals of the 2008/09 Uefa Cup (1-3 a, 2-1 h).
Bayern are the fifth different German club to have faced City in a Uefa Champions League knockout tie. They have previously eliminated Borussia Mönchengladbach, Schalke, Dortmund and Leipzig.
Bayern
Bayern's European Cup quarterfinal record is W20 L12:
2021/22 Villarreal L 1-2 (0-1 a, 1-1 h)
2020/21 Paris Saint-Germain L 3-3 away goals (2-3 h, 1-0 a)
2019/20 Barcelona W 8-2 (n)
2017/18 Sevilla W 2-1 (2-1 a, 0-0 h)
2016/17 Real Madrid L 3-6 (1-2 h, 2-4 a aet)
2015/16 Benfica W 3-2 (1-0 h, 2-2 a)
2014/15 Porto W 7-4 (1-3 a, 6-1 h)
2013/14 Manchester United W 4-2 (1-1 a, 3-1 h)
2012/13 Juventus W 4-0 (2-0 h, 2-0 a)
2011/12 Marseille W 4-0 (2-0 a, 2-0 h)
2009/10 Manchester United W 4-4 away goals (2-1 h, 2-3 a)
2008/09 Barcelona L 1-5 (0-4 a, 1-1 h)
2006/07 AC Milan L 2-4 (2-2 a, 0-2 h)
2004/05 Chelsea L 5-6 (2-4 a, 3-2 h)
2001/02 Real Madrid L 2-3 (2-1 h, 0-2 a)
2000/01 Manchester United W 3-1 (1-0 a, 2-1 h)
1999/00 Porto W 3-2 (1-1 a, 2-1 h)
1998/99 Kaiserslautern W 6-0 (2-0 h, 4-0 a)
1997/98 Borussia Dortmund L 0-1 (0-0 h, 0-1 a)
1994/95 IFK Göteborg W 2-2 away goals (0-0 h, 2-2 a)
1990/91 Porto W 3-1 (1-1 h, 2-0 a)
1989/90 PSV Eindhoven W 3-1 (2-1 h, 1-0 a)
1987/88 Real Madrid L 3-4 (3-2 h, 0-2 a)
1986/87 Anderlecht W 7-2 (5-0 h, 2-2 a)
1985/86 Anderlecht L 2-3 (2-1 h, 0-2 a)
1981/82 Universitatea Craiova W 3-1 (2-0 a, 1-1 h)
1980/81 Baník Ostrava W 6-2 (2-0 h, 4-2 a)
1976/77 Dynamo Kyiv L 1-2 (1-0 h, 0-2 a)
1975/76 Benfica W 5-1 (0-0 a, 5-1 h)
1974/75 Ararat Yerevan W 2-1 (2-0 h, 0-1 a)
1973/74 CSKA Sofia W 5-3 (4-1 h, 1-2 a)
1972/73 Ajax L 2-5 (0-4 a, 2-1 h)
This is Bayern's 21st appearance in the Uefa Champions League quarterfinals – a competition record, two more than Real Madrid.
Bayern have lost more European Cup quarterfinals than any other club, the 12 defeats including the last two.
Bayern are in the Uefa Champions League proper for the 26th time, one behind joint record holders Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the 15th season in a row.
The Munich club, who claimed the last of their six European Cups in 2020, have won their group in each of the last five seasons and 19 times overall, two short of Barcelona's competition record; they have featured in the knockout rounds every season since 2007/08, when they were in the Uefa Cup, and have not failed to progress beyond the initial group stage since 2002/03.
In 2021/22 Bayern won all six group games for the second time to finish first in Group E ahead of Benfica, Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv. They then eased past Salzburg in the round of 16 (1-1 a, 7-1 h) but, for the second year running, were eliminated in the quarterfinals, going out to Villarreal (0-1 a, 1-1 h).
Bayern have not failed to reach the Uefa Champions League semifinals three seasons running since 2008/09.
Nagelsmann's team claimed the Bundesliga title in 2021/22, Bayern's record-extending tenth successive league championship and 32nd overall.
Bayern kicked off this season with a 2-0 win at Inter Milan on Matchday 1, completing another perfect group stage campaign – for the third time in four seasons – with victory against the Nerazzurri in Munich by the same scoreline. They also beat Barcelona 2-0 at home and 3-0 away and Viktoria Plzen 5-0 at home and 4-2 away.
Paris were overcome in the round of 16, Bayern winning 1-0 in France with a Kingsley Coman strike and 2-0 in Germany thanks to second-half goals from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and substitute Serge Gnabry.
Defeat at Villarreal in last season's quarterfinal first leg ended Bayern's record run of 22 Uefa Champions League away games unbeaten (W17 D5), since a 3-0 loss at Paris on Matchday 2 of the 2017/18 competition. Having won 15 of their 16 matches outside Munich before being held at Salzburg in the 2021/22 round of 16 first leg, they were without a victory in two before 2022/23, but have won all four away matches this season, keeping three clean sheets.
This is Bayern's first meeting with English opponents since a 7-1 aggregate win against Chelsea in the round of 16 of their victorious 2019/20 Uefa Champions League campaign (3-0 a, 4-1 h).
That was Bayern's sixth win in their last seven two-legged ties against English clubs; their overall record is W11 L6. A 3-1 aggregate loss to Liverpool in the 2018/19 round of 16 (0-0 a, 1-3 h) is their sole defeat since losing to Chelsea in the 2004/05 quarterfinals (2-4 a, 3-2 h).
Bayern have won three of their last seven games away to English clubs (D2 L2), all three coming in London – the 2020 victory at Chelsea following a 7-2 win at Tottenham in the 2019/20 Uefa Champions League group stage and a 5-1 success at Arsenal in the 2016/17 round of 16 second leg.
Links and Trivia
Guardiola was Bayern coach between 2013 and 2016, winning the Bundesliga in all three of his seasons in charge. He also added the DFB-Pokal in 2013/14 and 2015/16, and claimed the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup in 2013.
Guardiola's players at Bayern included Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and, from 2015, Joshua Kimmich, Kingsley Coman and Sven Ulreich.
Guardiola was in charge of the Barcelona side that eliminated Bayern in the 2008/09 Uefa Champions League quarterfinals.
Tuchel oversaw three wins against Guardiola's City as Chelsea head coach in 2020/21, most significantly in the Champions League final on 29 May; three weeks earlier, Chelsea had won 2-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium in the Premier League, delaying City's title celebrations. Tuchel also guided the Blues to a 1-0 FA Cup semifinal success against City on 17 April 2021, although Chelsea lost 1-0 home and away to Guardiola's team in the 2021/22 Premier League.
Tuchel had never beaten Guardiola as a coach before taking charge of Chelsea. His record against the Spaniard with Mainz and Dortmund was D2 L3 with two goals scored and 11 conceded. The previous meeting before 2021 came in the 2015/16 German Cup final, Bayern winning on penalties after a goalless draw in what was Guardiola's last match in charge prior to taking over at City.
João Cancelo joined Bayern on loan from City in January having scored nine goals in 154 appearances for the Manchester club since signing in 2019. He won Premier League titles in 2020/21 and 2021/22 and the English League Cup in the former campaign, when he also helped City reach their first Uefa Champions League final.
Leroy Sané also swapped City for Bayern, moving to Munich in 2020 after four years in Manchester under Guardiola. The winger won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup while in England, including all three in 2018/19 as City became the first club to win all three English domestic trophies in the same season.
Have also played in England:
Jamal Musiala (Southampton youth 2010–11, Chelsea youth 2011–19)
Sadio Mané (Southampton 2014–16, Liverpool 2016–22)
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Stoke City 2017–18)
Serge Gnabry (Arsenal 2011–16, West Brom 2015/16 loan)
Daley Blind (Manchester United 2014–18)
Mané's record against City with Liverpool was W6 D5 L4. He scored seven goals, including the third in a 3-0 victory at Anfield in the 2017/18 Uefa Champions League quarterfinal first leg and two in a 3-2 win in last season's FA Cup semifinal.
Have played in Germany:
Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund 2018–22)
Sergio Gómez (Borussia Dortmund 2018–21)
Ilkay Gündogan (Nürnberg 2009–11, Borussia Dortmund 2011–16)
Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen 2012/13 loan, Wolfsburg 2014–15)
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund 2020–22)
Stefan Ortega (Arminia Bielefeld 2007–14, 2017–22, 1860 München 2014–17)
Gündogan scored Dortmund's goal from the penalty spot in a 2-1 defeat by Bayern in the 2013 Uefa Champions League final at Wembley; Neuer and Müller were both in a Bayern side coached by Jupp Heynckes.
Haaland lost all seven games against Bayern with Dortmund, although he did manage five goals in those fixtures.
International teammates:
Rúben Dias, Bernardo Silva & João Cancelo (Portugal)
Nathan Aké & Matthijs de Ligt, Daley Blind, Ryan Gravenberch (Netherlands)
Manuel Akanji & Yann Sommer (Switzerland)
Ilkay Gündogan & Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané, Serge Gnabry, Thomas Müller (Germany)
Have also played together:
Ilkay Gündogan & Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Nürnberg 2009/10)
Rodri & Lucas Hernández (Atlético de Madrid 2018/19)
Haaland scored twice past Sommer in Dortmund's 3-0 Bundesliga win against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 19 September 2020. The Norwegian also scored a double past Sommer in Dortmund's 2-4 Bundesliga defeat by Mönchengladbach on 22 January 2021.
Gündogan and Kevin De Bruyne scored the goals as City beat Sommer's Mönchengladbach 2-0 in the 2020/21 Uefa Champions League round of 16 second leg to complete a 4-0 aggregate win. Bernardo Silva had scored one goal and set up another in the first leg.
De Bruyne got Werder Bremen's only goal in a 6-1 Bundesliga loss to Bayern on 23 February 2013. He was also on target twice in Wolfsburg's 4-1 defeat of Bayern on 30 January 2015.
Gündogan and Müller were on target for their respective teams as Nürnberg drew 1-1 against Bayern in the Bundesliga on 20 February 2010. Gündogan also scored as Dortmund beat Bayern 4-2 in the 2013 German Super Cup.
Gündogan scored past Sommer for Dortmund against Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga in both 2014/15 and 2015/16. He also beat the Bayern goalkeeper in Germany's 1-1 draw against Switzerland in the Uefa Nations League on 6 September 2020.
Müller scored past Ederson as Bayern drew 2-2 at Benfica in the 2015/16 Uefa Champions League quarterfinal second leg.
Latest news
Manchester City
City have won their last eight games in all competitions, including Saturday's 4-1 Premier League victory at Southampton.
Erling Haaland scored twice to make it 30 league goals in 27 games for City.
Kevin De Bruyne set up Haaland's first goal, the Belgian's 100th Premier League assist. He is just the fifth player to reach a century and the fastest, bringing up the mark in 237 games compared to previous record holder Cesc Fàbregas's 293.
Seven of De Bruyne's assists have been for Haaland this season, the most goals one City player has provided for another in a single campaign.
Pep Guardiola's side have scored 21 goals in their last four fixtures, the three before Saturday all at home as they followed the 7-0 second-leg win against Leipzig with a 6-0 defeat of Championship leaders Burnley in the FA Cup quarterfinal and a 4-1 Premier League victory against Liverpool on 1 April.
City have won their last nine home games in all competitions, scoring 34 goals and conceding only four.
Haaland scored a hat-trick against Burnley, his sixth for City.
The Norwegian has 11 goals in his last four games but was sidelined by a groin injury between that Burnley fixture on 18 March and Saturday.
Haaland's penalty winner in a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace on 11 March was his 28th Premier League goal of the season, beating his previous best total for a league campaign – 27 for Borussia Dortmund in 2020/21.
Eighteen of Haaland's league goals this season have come at home with 12 away. He is only the second City player to reach double figures for goals home and away, after Sergio Agüero (13 home, 13 away) in 2014/15.
Haaland's 27th goal came in a 4-1 win at Bournemouth on 25 February, overtaking Agüero's 26-goal mark in 2014/15 as the highest tally for a City player in a single Premier League campaign.
A 1-0 loss at Tottenham on 5 February was City's fourth Premier League defeat of the season, one more than in the whole of 2021/22.
Guardiola's side have 67 points after 29 Premier League games this season, three fewer than at the same stage in 2021/22.
The Cityzens will face another Championship club, second-placed Sheffield United, in the FA Cup semifinals at Wembley on 22 April.
City were knocked out of the English League Cup by a 2-0 quarterfinal loss at Southampton on 11 January.
Phil Foden, whose last appearance came as a substitute in England's 2-1 Uefa EURO 2024 qualifying win in Italy on 23 March, had surgery to remove his appendix three days later.
In the recent European qualifiers Nathan Aké scored twice in the Netherlands' 3-0 home win against Gibraltar, while Bernardo Silva was on target in both of Portugal's victories against Liechtenstein (4-0 h) and Luxembourg (6-0 a). Kevin De Bruyne also celebrated his 99th international appearance for Belgium by scoring what proved to be the winner in a 3-2 friendly victory away to Germany.
Bayern
Bayern's record in all competitions in 2023 is W10 D3 L3. They were 1-0 winners at Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday thanks to Matthijs de Ligt's third league goal for the club.
On 24 March Bayern parted company with coach Julian Nagelsmann, appointing Thomas Tuchel as his successor.
Tuchel's first match in charge was a 4-2 victory against former club Dortmund on 1 April, Thomas Müller scoring twice.
Three days later Bayern lost 2-1 at home against Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal Cup quarterfinals, conceding the decisive penalty in added time. It was their first home defeat this season.
Müller has now made 64 German Cup appearances for Bayern, one more than previous record holder goalkeeper Sepp Maier. Müller made his 435th Bundesliga appearance for Bayern at Freiburg on Saturday; only Maier (473) has played more.
In his last two games as Bayern coach, Nagelsmann oversaw a 5-3 win against Augsburg on 11 March and a 2-1 loss in Leverkusen one week later.
Benjamin Pavard scored twice against Augsburg, when winter signing João Cancelo and Alphonso Davies registered their first league goals of the season.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has 16 goals in his last 21 Bayern games.
Jamal Musiala has scored 11 league goals this season, as many as in the last two seasons put together. He is Bayern's leading Bundesliga scorer in 2022/23, one ahead of Choupo-Moting.
The Bavarian club were unbeaten in 20 matches in all competitions (W16 D4) before losing 3-2 in the Bundesliga at Borussia Mönchengladbach on 18 February.
That was Bayern's second defeat of the season, after a 1-0 league loss at Augsburg on 17 September; following the losses to Leverkusen and Freiburg their record this season is now W29 D7 L4.
Mathys Tel has been out since the international break after suffering an adductors injury with France's Under-19 team.
Manuel Neuer has been out since 9 December because of a lower leg fracture that required surgery.
Lucas Hernández has been out since 22 November with a knee injury.
On 3 March Choupo-Moting extended his contract until 2024.
In the recent Uefa EURO 2024 qualifiers Dayot Upamecano scored in France's 4-0 win at home to a Netherlands side for which club colleague Daley Blind came off the bench to win his 100th cap. Three days later Pavard scored the winner as France won 1-0 in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland. João Cancelo also opened the scoring for Portugal in a 4-0 home win against Liechtenstein, while Leon Goretzka won his 50th cap for Germany in a 3-2 friendly defeat by Belgium in Cologne.