Muller: Mane has told me not to pass to Lewandowski by mistake

Thomas Muller joked that Sadio Mane has been telling him not to pass the ball to Robert Lewandowski when the two old teammates meet on Tuesday.

Muller's Bayern Munich host Lewandowski's Barcelona after the Polish striker swapped Germany for Catalonia in the summer in a €45 million deal.

"For the past 10 days, jokingly, Sadio has been telling me not to pass the ball to Lewy by accident," Muller said in a news conference ahead of the game on Monday.

"It's important that we play our game, especially against the quick counter-attacks Barca have shown in the league so fat this season.

"We can't let Lewy play his game. He's a top striker, he's dangerous in or close to the box. We have to stop him from getting into shooting positions."

Thomas Muller has revealed that Sadio Mane has told him not to inadvertently pass to former team-mate Robert Lewandowski when the pair meet on Tuesday night.

Bayern Munich welcome Barcelona to the Allianz Arena with former striker Lewandowski making a swift return to the club he left just eight weeks ago.

Muller and Lewandowski formed a devastating partnership spanning over nine years, helping the Bundesliga giants to eight domestic titles and a Champions League success in that time.

The Polish striker's return to Bavaria dominates the headlines around this week's clash and rightly so. The 34-year-old netted an astonishing 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern to put himself second in the list of the club's all-time top scorers behind Gerd Muller.

Lewandowski has continued his prolific form at new club Barcelona, scoring nine goals in his first six outings.

Muller - who turns 33 on the day of the game - revealed that Sadio Mane cheekily told the German not to pass to his former team-mate out of habit, when the duo come head-to-head.

'Sadio has been joking telling me not to make a mistake and pass the ball to Lewandowski during the game. We have to play our game tomorrow and not focus too much on Lewy,' Muller told SPORT.

'Our connection on the pitch grew over time. But now we have a lot of versatile players up front and we don't have a single reference. Opponents don't know who the regular striker is and we have to make it work.'

Bayern have had it all their own way against the Catalan club in recent times including two 3-0 wins in last season's group stage and the unforgettable 8-2 mauling of the La Liga side in the quarter final two-years-ago.

Muller believes Tuesday's game will be one for the neutrals to enjoy with both side's on maximum points after last week's first round of group games.

The Bayern Munich Forward said: 'We want to impose ourselves in duels and we want to be scathing after losing the ball. The game will be open. I think tomorrow will be a game that the neutral spectator will like.