Bastian Schweinsteiger has backed Manchester City to reach the final of the Champions League, although fans should take his prediction with a pinch of salt.
City pulled off a superb 3-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie against Bayern Munich, and travel to Germany for the return fixture on Wednesday.
Should City see off the Bundesliga champions – who dropped points at the weekend with a 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim – they will reach the semi-finals of the competition for a third successive season.
There they will take on either Real Madrid or Chelsea for a place in the final in Istanbul. With Los Blancos holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg of their quarterfinal, a replay of last season’s semi-final epic could be on the cards.
Of all the German football pundits out there, Bastian Schweinsteiger probably knows Pep Guardiola’s City the best.
The former midfielder played under Guardiola for two years at Bayern, before spending a couple of years at Manchester United between 2015 and 2017.
On Monday morning the 38-year-old hosted a Q&A session on his Twitter account, and he was asked which teams he thought would feature in the Champions League final.
“Man City vs AC Milan,” was Schweinsteiger’s answer, a fairly logical response given how the quarterfinals have played out.
However, City fans should beware the so-called ‘Schweinsteiger curse’. The former Bayern star has developed a habit of ‘cursing’ sides who he has praised or backed to win in recent years, including Bayern, United and the German national team.
His prediction of AC Milan reaching the final does make sense as well though
Milan defeated Napoli 1-0 in the first leg of their quarterfinal, and should Stefano Pioli’s side finish the job in Naples, then it looks like they will face crosstown rivals Inter Milan in a blockbuster semi-final.
While both sides have struggled in Serie A since the turn of the year, the Rossoneri have been a different beast in Europe, keeping a clean sheet in their last five outings.
With attacker Rafael Leao and former City man Brahim Diaz coming into form at just the right time, Milan would be a force to be reckoned with.
