The Germans, champions in 2020, arrive with the ambition of leaving behind their setback last Saturday 2-4 against modest Bochum in the Bundesliga and for this they will appeal to their main goalscoring inspiration, the Pole Robert Lewandowski.
The striker already has nine goals in six Champions League games this season, but that does not help him at the moment to occupy the position of top scorer in the competition, in the hands of Sebastien Haller, Ajax Amsterdam attacker (10 goals).
The Bavarians will be without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer due to knee surgery, left-back Alphonso Davies, recovering from myocarditis after a coronavirus infection, and midfielder Leon Goretzka, injured.
Goretzka has at least three players who could be considered natural replacements: Marc Roca, Marcel Sabitzer and Corentin Tolisso, coach Julian Nagelsmann’s preferred option.
Another recent Champions League winner, Liverpool take on AC Milan, who return to the round of 16 for the first time in a decade.
The match pits an intractable English club in the first phase (with six victories), against an Italian team that did not have too many difficulties in qualifying as second in their group after Real Madrid, but that in recent weeks has not experienced a good time in Serie A.
After their draw last weekend against Napoli, Inter ceded the lead to AC Milan, with whom they lost the derby in the Lombard capital a week earlier (1-2).
On Tuesday, with a genius from Kylian Mbappé, Paris Saint-Germain beat Real Madrid 1-0 at home and came first in the first leg of the round of 16
Mbappé entered the area from the side and mocked the Spanish Lucas Vázquez and the Brazilian Éder Militao to define under the legs of the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois already in the discount (minutes 90 + 4).
The French star put the Parisian club ahead of the second leg on March 9 at the Santiago Bernabéu, after a game in which the Iberians could only resist to avoid a bigger win.
The French squad made 22 shots against the Madrid goal, eight between the three sticks, by three of the meringues, none inside the goal.
Mbappé destroyed a Real Madrid team focused on defense at the last second to save his goal, but the French striker appealed to the lineage of the greats and defined the duel.
First he caused a penalty, charged by the Argentine Lionel Messi and well saved by Courtois in the 62nd minute, and in the last second he left the Whites breathless.
In the other match of the day, the English Manchester City, defending monarch, put their commitment in Lisbon on track, with a 5-0 win against the Portuguese Sporting.
The visitors dominated with authority in the first half and took advantage with goals from Algerian Riyad Mahrez in the ninth minute, Portuguese Bernardo Silva twice (17 and 44) and Phil Foden (32) and Raheem Sterling scored in the second (59) .
City left the tie sentenced for the second leg on March 9 in Manchester.
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