Pep Guardiola rejects all criticism over Suggestions

Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola has rejected suggestions that his side have been given an easy route into the semifinals of the Champions League after being paired against Porto.

The German club managed to comfortably overwhelm Shakhtar Donetsk in the last 16 round, but they were largely helped by the sending off for the Ukrainian club early on in the second leg. Nonetheless, the club still remain as one of the favourites to lift the trophy this year due to their incredible strength in depth. The odds have only lengthened after they were drawn against Porto.

The Portuguese club have lifted the European cup in this century, but they are not considered as realistic challengers for the title. They are not one of the mainstream clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona. As a result, it is heavily felt that the German club have been mightily rewarded with an easy fixture. Guardiola has tried to dispel those suggestions by saying that the Champions League quarter-finals do not contain any easy teams at all. Despite those comments from the former Barcelona manager, it will be difficult to see Bayern not walking past their opposition in this tie.

Incidentally, this tie is a repeat of the European cup final of 1987 in which Porto won 2-1.”All teams have a special quality. Porto and Shakhtar [Donetsk, Bayern’s last-16 opponents] were in the same group, so we have already watched a few of their matches.Porto have a great team and a beautiful stadium. They are very strong physically and attack with a lot of pace, but in the quarterfinals you can’t expect an easy match,” said Guardiola. His comments were also backed by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. “The atmosphere in Porto is very heated. I witnessed the Porto fans during the 2004 Champions League final against Monaco,” said Neuer.