On Friday night, two of European football’s biggest powerhouses go head-to-head. Defending UEFA Champions League winners, Bayern Munich, take on 2013 Europa League winners, Chelsea, in the UEFA Super Cup at the Eden Arena in Prague. This particular fixture is further monumental as after a year’s absence, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will go head to head again.
Chelsea will be in this particular game for a second consecutive season, having played (and lost against) Atletico Madrid in last season’s encounter in Monaco. Chelsea, as a result, have only one UEFA Super Cup trophy to their name; they beat Real Madrid in 1998 having contested the match as the previous seasons’ Cup Winners Cup holders. Bayern Munich have been in three finals, but are yet to get their hands on Europe’s first trophy of the season losing previously to Dynamo Kyiv, Anderlecht and Liverpool.
Mourinho and Guardiola resume their rivalry with their new clubs. The two have faced each other in various tournaments, but neither have come face-to-face in the Super Cup. Knowing his character, Mourinho will be desperate to not only beat his old rival but also secure the European crown having previously failed to do so; Jose has been in two back-to-back finals with his Porto team, losing to AC Milan and Valencia in 2003 & 2004 respectively. Guardiola on the other hand has already won the trophy on two occasions, defeating Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto with his dominating Barca side. But having already lost the German Super Cup to Borussia Dortmund a few weeks back, Guardiola would like to ensure that another trophy doesn’t elude him.
Bayern come into this game on the back of a surprise draw away to Freiburg while Chelsea also experienced a stalemate against Manchester United earlier in the week. Both sides have played a game more than the rest of their division and find themselves on top spot; still early days though.
Below we have constructed a little statistical infograph, highlighting the important information of the two sides. Please note that given the lack of games owing to the timing of this fixture, stats have been taken from the previous domestic campaigns of each side i.e. the 2012/13 Bundesliga and Premier League campaign. Also, statistics have been taken from various open-sources websites such as SoccerStats.com and WhoScored.com. Enjoy!
Stay tuned to OOTB as we will also have an in-depth Tactical Analysis of the game after it’s completion.
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