FCBARCELONA.CAT

21.03.2009 11:00

German press warns of Barça

Roger Bogunyà

The German media has a lot of respect for Barça. Once the draw was made, the media was full of praise for Barça’s football, their history and their statistics. Below we have reproduced some of the comments made on newspaper websites.

‘Bild’: “Bayern against Europe’s goal-scoring machine”

Bild’s website warned of Barça’s attacking threat, mentioning the fact that this season they have scored 78 goals in 27 league matches. They compare Barça’s average of 2.88 goals a game to Manchester United’s (1.76) and Bayern’s own (2.16).

‘Frankfurter Allgemeine’: “A rival without a great past”

Despite the cheeky headline (which refers to the number of times Bayern have beaten Barça), the Frankfurter Allgemeine website was also full of praise for Barça: “Bayern couldn’t have got a tougher rival”. The text went on to refer to Barça’s “stellar” attacking trio of Messi, Henry and Eto’o.

‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’: “Put to the test in a traumatic setting”

The innovative Süddeutsche Zeitung made reference to Nou Camp being the stadium where Bayern lost 1-2 to Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final in the dying minutes after leading most of the game 1-0. Thus they refer to Nou Camp as being “a traumatic setting”, and they go on to say Barça attack is “the most attractive in Europe”.

‘Die Welt’: “An attractive rival for German teams”

The prestigious German newspaper Die Welt’s headline refers to all the rivals the German teams face in the Champions League and the UEFA. They say that Barça play “football art” and that it will be a “trial by fire” for Bayern.