Of all four Champions League quarterfinal series, the one that is by far the most out of reach is that of Bayern and Barcelona, but you wouldn't know it from the cautious comments and approach of Barca coach Pep Guardiola, who sat key players Xavi, Samuel Eto'o and captain Carlos Puyol on Saturday in order to have them fresh for Tuesday's second leg battle in Munich.
"Bayern is capable of scoring four goals, all the more so when they are wounded," said Guardiola, taking a page out of the "Lou Holtz Book of Pre-Game Sandbagging." "I don't believe the statements about them already having given the series up for lost," he added, clearly not wanting to acknowledge the white flag waived by Bayern coach Juergen Klinsmann after the 4-0 first-leg rout. "I am sure they will put in a good performance and we have to go there with a lot of ambition to win the match. If we are speculative they will roll over us."
Although the German champion rebounded with a 4-0 Bundesliga win over Frankfurt on the weekend, Klinsmann, not to be out-bagged by Guardiola, again conceded their exit from the tournament, saying, "With this win [against Frankfurt] we repaired part of the damage but not all of it. We have a lot to do on Tuesday so that we can say goodbye to the competition in a good way."