So, what am I unhappy about, you ask?
• Inter blog: Confirmation or revenge?
What happened when Louis van Gaal decided to put on the brakes and defend for the rest of the match? Oh yeah, Mainz scored. Granted they beat us at the start of the season, but that was kind of like kicking a wounded dog. It was the manner in which they scored on Saturday that was upsetting. After Breno switched in for Thomas Mueller on 80 minutes, Allagui got space in front of Pranjic and beat Hans Joerg-Butt, Kraft's second-half replacement.
Let's face it, Holger Badstuber was, again, horrible. Very Raggedy-Andy-like. And frankly, of late, has me wishing for Daniel Van Buyten or, gasp!- Demichelis back. (OK, not quite that much.) And his form has me wondering what happened to Breno?! There was nothing I could see in the Brazilian that necessitated van Gaal putting him on the bench. The coach works in mysterious ways...
And, to be short (pun intended), Danjiel Pranjic shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the centre of the field. If LvG is going to do the right thing: Problem solved with Toni Kroos back.
The glitch in the Bayern armour has been, and continues to be, serious lapses in defensive concentration. This showed most recently in the match against Koeln earlier this month. Up 2-0 at the half, die Roten was content to sit on a two-goal lead and allowed lowly Koeln to come back and score 3 in the second half.
If that were the only time it happened this season, it would be an aberration, and no cause for concern. However, look at the away to Wolfsburg match in January (gave up a late equalizer), the Bundesliga match away to Stuttgart right before the break (allowed them to score 3 second-half goals), and away to Monchengladbach in November (2 second-half goals in 4 minutes).
I note the away matches because we are, ahem... at the San Siro on Wednesday (not to mention at home Saturday versus Dortmund). And since we cannot be relied upon to keep a clean sheet this season, the only way to beat Inter Milan is to be relentless in attack. For 90+ minutes. Full throttle. Foot firmly on the gas and all that.
Thankfully, we have a front four of such outstanding quality, that this is possible. Mario Gomez, Thomas Mueller, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben? Shenanigans! The only knock on them are the chances that should have been put away and weren't. We will need every goal from every chance. That's not asking too much, is it?
I would start Breno over Badstuber along with Tymoschuk in central defence, as we do need size and physicality to overcome Samuel Eto'o. I'm really not convinced Badstuber is up to the job. At all.
Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger should be in charge of corralling Wesley Sneidjer and Dejan Stankovic. Very interesting. And I think the match is won or lost on how effective our holding midfield is. If Bastian and Toni can keep possession and vision, we win in Italy.
The Chivu / Ribery and Maicon / Robben match-ups will be a pleasure to watch. For Bayern fans. Not that Chivu and Maicon aren't without talent, but they are facing arguably the most devastating pair of wingers in the competition. Backed up, of course, by Philipp Lahm and Luis Gustavo.
Notice how I've said nothing about revenge. Let's see how the first leg plays out, and then we can talk about that. After all, this is a two-part race. Part One starts tomorrow. Foot firmly on the gas.
Auf gehts, Bayern!
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Susie Schaaf is a footie-obsessed German-American with a Brazilian passport. She promises to be completely biased whilst eliciting as many chuckles from you as she can. When she’s not writing, you can find her pouring pints at her local or on an airplane to anywhere. If you’d like to swear at or praise her, she can be reached at susie.schaaf@gmail.com 
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