Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller think Bayern Munich should be confident of beating Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.
The Bundesliga champions will meet Frank Lampard s side in a repeat of the 2011-12 final, which Chelsea won on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Munich.
Neuer and Muller played in that heart-breaking home defeat for Bayern, who responded in the 2012-13 season by winning the treble, which included a Champions League final triumph over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
With Bayern having recaptured some better form since Hansi Flick took over as interim coach from Niko Kovac, particularly excelling in Europe, Neuer thinks his side can take a healthy level of confidence into the tie.
We re looking forward to London, where we ve had some good experiences, the goalkeeper said via Bayern s website. They re a dangerous team, who we have to take very seriously and approach with concentration.
Obviously, we want to get through to the next round. I think we can go into the games with a healthy level of confidence. We re happy with the draw: it s against an attractive and good team.
Muller said the 2012 final has no relevance to the last-16 tie, adding: It s clear that you re not going to get any small teams in the Champions League last 16. We re fairly confident. I m feeling good about the draw.
We meet again.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Chelsea have players who can hurt us, though. They have individuals in attack whose qualities are well-known.
But it s about the team performance, not individuals. My good feeling is based on us feeling very happy as a team at the moment. We want to be the favourites and justify that.
Full-back Joshua Kimmich said: We ll go into the games with confidence. It s still a long way off, so we can t yet say what form the teams will be in, but I believe we ll go into it as favourites and I m confident we ll progress.
They re difficult to assess; they re not really on a consistent run at the moment.
Lampard has good memories of facing Bayern, having been part of the 2012 team but also one that beat Bayern in the quarter-finals in 2004-05, scoring twice in the game at Stamford Bridge.
It s a tough draw, but a good draw, he told Chelsea TV. We knew that when we get through the group stages, you re generally in with some big teams, and we have certainly drawn one.
We have history with them, of course, but these will be games in themselves that will be very testing. We will be ready for the challenge.
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN)
We had some games before the Champions League final. In 2005, we had a really good game at the Bridge. I scored two and we put in a really good performance. Obviously, the night in Munich is the defining night of my career.
I m sure the fans who will travel there will remember the game well, but it ll be very different and very taxing.
This level of football, the Champions League knockout phase, the level of focus that you need is absolute, for both games. We want to be at our best going into the games, but the concentration levels and how we approach it will be the deciding factors.
We should be confident we can beat Bayern Munich, but I understand that they re very strong.
