How Bayern copied City tactic to stop Liverpool - but 2nd leg could be different

Last week, both Manchester United and Tottenham progressed from their relatively tough Champions League knockout ties, to secure a spot in Friday's draw for the quarter-finals of the competition.

Man City, Liverpool's domestic title rivals, joined the party with a 10-2 obliteration of Schalke over two legs.

That leaves just one English side remaining with a real question mark attached to their name relative to whether they'll advance or not - last year's finalists, Liverpool.

The Reds had arguably the toughest draw of all the Premier League clubs, with Bayern Munich reaching at least the quarter-finals in every season since 2011.

The Germans are considered seasoned European heavyweights, and after a tight, goalless draw in the first leg at Anfield, the deciding fixture in Bavaria on Wednesday is as finely poised as it could possibly be.

So, ahead of the highly anticipated European night, what are the key tactical aspects to consider?

Bayern's safe approach at Anfield

Firstly, it's important to highlight Bayern's approach when they made the trip to Merseyside two weeks ago, as Niko Kovac showed the home side total respect by largely instilling a conservative, safe game plan.

Liverpool's ability to blow teams away in short spells is now renowned in Europe after last season's campaign, with City, AS Roma and FC Porto all suffering, and it was evident that the German side wanted to avoid such an occurrence at all costs.

In order to do so, they essentially nullified Liverpool's main source of chance creation versus top opponents - pressing. Against inferior sides, Liverpool dominate the ball and aim to break down the opposition in open play, demonstrated recently against Burnley for example, in which the Reds ended the match with 66% possession.

Klopp's preference against top teams, though, is to effectively relinquish possession, and instead create by pressing and luring the opponent into making mistakes on the ball. By doing so, this allows his team to remain defensively compact and hard to break down, with little risks being taken, shown below.

Crucially though, clear-cut chances are still often generated due to the errors made by the opposing team. This dates back to the age-old comment made by Klopp in which he stated: "No playmaker in this world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation."

Bayern, though, appeared to adopt Pep Guardiola's plan from earlier this season, when the Manchester side drew 0-0 at Anfield in October. The plan mentioned, counteracts Liverpool's pressing approach by essentially building around the pitch rather than through the centre of it.

City's passing network from the stalemate earlier in the season is pictured below and evidently, there was a clear avoidance of the middle (City attacking from right to left).

This is problematic for Klopp's side, as for the most part, Liverpool's ball-winning is executed by their central midfielders, with the likes of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum developing a reputation for their endeavour. Once winning the ball, they're then able to immediately feed the front three attackers.

By opting to play around the pitch and build play using their wide players, Bayern made sure that no dangerous pressing moments ensued, as it's essentially safer if the ball is lost on the flanks as opposed to in the middle of the field.

Bayern's passing network from the meeting two weeks ago is pictured below, with an avoidance of the centre that is almost identical to City's.

Interestingly though, both in the case of Bayern and Man City, the conservative method of building without using the centre of the pitch appears to have nullified their own attacks too.

The two opponents failed to score at Anfield, posting considerably low underlying xG numbers of just 0.29 and in City's case, 0.18, excluding the late penalty.

Will Bayern stick or twist?

The crucial aspect then, is whether Kovac will instruct his side to continue to build safely using the wide areas, or whether he'll allow his team more offensive freedom given that they are now playing at home.

Unfortunately from Liverpool's perspective, that's virtually impossible to predict beforehand with certainty.

Key points of Klopp's press conference ahead of Bayern

If Kovac continues with the same sideways passing model, then it's reasonable to suggest that the match will be incredibly strategic, with very few quality chances for either side.

In this case, Liverpool should largely be able to remain defensively secure, but the Reds will likely pose little attacking threat because of the lack of pressing opportunities.

To create against such an approach, Klopp may have to ditch the reliance on offensive pressing to an extent, and instead place the emphasis on being more creative in open play with the ball, as is usually the case against the likes of Burnley.

This occured in the 2-1 defeat to City in the second meeting between the two clubs this season. Pictured below, is an illustration of Liverpool's possession share, with the Reds largely allowing Guardiola's team the ball up until around 60 minutes, at which point Klopp recognised that zero pressing opportunities were being instigated.

As shown in the graphic, Liverpool then looked to have more of the ball, and brought on more creative types such as Xherdan Shaqiri, Fabinho and Daniel Sturridge for Milner, Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane.

A goal was scored after a long possession spell, shown below, and although the team did eventually lose, the shift away from relying on pressing seemed to positively impact proceedings.

If, however, Kovac does change to become more expansive, and the previous approach was purely used for Anfield, then Liverpool may be able to continue with their reliance on pressing to create scoring chances.

Liverpool would then be able to remain defensively secure, with counter-attacking largely being their primary offensive threat.

Ultimately, the tie is finely poised at this stage, and the first goal scored on the night will drastically alter any preconceived plans made by either team.

Based on the first leg though, Bayern's conservative approach is a key factor. If it remains, then it's likely that the contest will be slow and strategic, with neither side posing much of a threat.

In this case, Liverpool will have to be more creative with the ball than usual when facing top sides, as opposed to relying on quick pressing moments.

If however, Bayern become more adventurous because of their home advantage, then Klopp's pressing approach may be enough, as the Germans could play into the visitors' hands.