Bayern Munich face the unenviable task of trying to overturn a three-goal deficit against Barcelona if they are to progress to the Champions League final.
A Lionel Messi double and a late Neymar goal gave the Catalans a 3-0 win at the Camp Nou last week to give them a huge advantage ahead of the second leg in Germany.
It leaves Bayern boss Pep Guardiola needing to formulate a plan that enables his side to carry a significant threat going forward, while also preventing Barcelona from scoring a valuable away goal, if he is to instigate a remarkable turnaround against his former club.
He was forced into an early reshuffle in the first leg after his bold decision to go man-to-man across the field with Luis Enrique’s side put the German champions in trouble on numerous occasions in the opening stages.
Bayern do have previous though when it comes to recovering from a first leg defeat. In the quarter-final they were beaten 3-1 by Porto before storming back to win 6-1 at the Allianz Arena and reach the last four.
They also thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 7-0 in the first knockout round after a goalless draw in the first leg, showing they are more than capable of scoring the four or more goals that are required of them on Tuesday.
Of course, the standard of opposition is that much higher on this occasion and, as they discovered first hand in Barcelona, keeping out a front three of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez is no mean feat even if they can score the goals at the other end.
History is also against Bayern, with only one team recovering from a three-goal first leg deficit to go through to the next round since the Champions League began. That side was Deportivo, who beat AC Milan 4-0 in La Coruna after losing the first leg 4-1 in the San Siro.
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