Bayern Munich vs Bayern Leverkusen: Two German Giants face off in the Champions League | OneFootball

Bayern Munich will take on their strongest challengers in the Bundesliga on Wednesday in the Champions League round of 16. Two teams who are playing scintillating football in the Bundesliga and above-average football in the Champions League will get a chance to show who is the stronger competitor in Europe's most coveted competition. The big question: who will succeed in their endeavors, and who will fail to meet their expectations?

Is Bayern Strong Enough to Compete?

So far this season, Bayern have been pretty unconvincing in games against the reigning Bundesliga champions, drawing or losing every time they have come up against them. Bayer Leverkusen knocked Bayern Munich out of the DFB Pokal and drew twice in the Bundesliga. This means that Bayern have not found a way to overcome the team that stopped their Bundesliga title streak, even though they have been blowing away the rest of their opponents this season.

For a game made in the German top flight, can the prospective Bundesliga champions change the tide and finally win against the defending league champions?

This may not be very easy for FC Bayern, however, because not only have they not been able to best Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, but they have also been almost sub-par in the Champions League. Inconsistency is the common word that has been thrown around to describe Die Roten: they barely were able to slide by Celtic, courtesy of a late winner from Alphonso Davies, they got taken apart by Feyenoord, struggled against Aston Villa, and were not great in their win against Slovan Bratislava; on the other side, however, they crushed Shakhtar Donetsk, tied the record amount of goals scored in a match against Dinamo Zagreb, beat PSG, beat Benfica, and qualified for the round of sixteen.

If they weren't as inconsistent, one would say that they have been one of the more solid teams in Europe this season. You might even say that they should be considered the favorites in this clash. It is just hard to agree with either of these things, though, because FC Bayern have given their fans a lot of ups and downs and need to show their true consistency.

Prediction

Although I have been critical of FC Bayern Munich's consistency, they can still be regarded as one of the best teams Europe has to offer this season from a style of play perspective. They are bold, fast, technical, and quite honestly, at the peak of offensive prowess in this competition. Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, and Michael Olise have been gifts from the football scriptwriters this season because they have kept this team on course for their highest scoring season ever.

You could genuinely bet your house on this team holding form for long enough to win the Bundesliga this year and maybe even getting that goal-scoring record. This team is also very capable of going far in the Champions League, and if they stick to what they are the best at--controlling the tempo and possession and breaking through lines with incisive passing--they can at least win the offensive battle against Bayer Leverkusen and go into the second leg leading on goal differential.