Surprise vs Bayern? Ex-Sporting man: They can win | OneFootball

Derlei was one of the starting players in the last two matches between Sporting and Bayern Munich, which resulted in a heavy defeat for the Lions, with an aggregate score of 12-1. The former player believes that, 16 years later, the gap between the two teams is no longer the same.

"I believe that Sporting can compete in the game. The clubs are in different situations now. Sporting is coming off a national championship win, which already makes Bayern have much greater respect. Bayern, despite having won the championship last season, has not managed to be among the top four teams in Europe for some years. It will be a different game from 2009," he began by saying in an interview with the newspaper A Bola.

Due to the evolution of the Sporting team, Derlei believes that the duel this Tuesday, December 9, could end up being more balanced and does not rule out the possibility of a 'surprise' in Germany, despite the forced changes by Rui Borges in the lineup: "Bayern still has a very strong team with great financial power, but Sporting today is much closer to the level of these teams. It will certainly put up much more of a fight and has great chances of winning the match."

Apart from the preview of the sixth round of the Champions League, Derlei also discussed the details of the knockout stage he played against Bayern Munich and revealed the team's sentiment: "I remember those games perfectly. We came into that game after a heavy home defeat. It's worth noting that Bayern remains one of the biggest clubs in history and, due to its financial power, it is very difficult for Portuguese teams to compete on equal terms. At the time, we had a very young team. In the first match, we even started well, but we ended up conceding five goals and went to Germany with the tie already decided, which gave peace of mind to a team with Bayern's strength."

"We tried our best to hold Bayern, but that didn't happen, and the goals kept coming, due to the quality their team had. Proof of this is that a good part of that team later became part of the German national team that won the 2014 World Cup," he added.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.