Bayern Munich return to action against Milan on Tuesday at the Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City 6:00pm EDT. While Milan will play their first match of the competition, this will be Bayern's third and final match of thier U.S. tour.
For Bayern, the tournament has seen some mixed results. The Bavarians lost the opening game 2-1 to Arsenal and then defeated Real Madrid 3-1 on Saturday.
It was a tale of two halves for Bayern Munich on Saturday against Real Madrid. The Bavarian giants were pressed deep into the defensive end throughout the first interval and it was only thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and midfielder Corentin Tolisso, who scored against the run of play to give Bayern the lead that the Rekordmeister were upfront after 45 minutes.
The Germans then, however, dominated the second half and in the end deserved their 3-1 victory. “A victory like that gives you confidence,” midfielder Joshua Kimmich said after the game.
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Confidence Bayern need after the club has been constantly confronted with the lack of signings in the attack. “I believe that we have many players with tons of quality,” Kimmich said. “But if you want to get far in all competitions then we need one or two more players,” he added.
Bayern has taken just 17 first-team players to the International Champions Cup this summer. That list has since shrunk to just 15 as Sven Ulreich was sent off against Real Madrid and Jérôme Boateng has left the tour to deal with a private issue back in Munich.
As a result, Kovac will likely test some of the young stars that have accompanied Bayern on this tour against Milan. Furthermore, Renato Sanches will once again see some significant action. The Portuguese midfielder was excellent against Real Madrid. “I see tons of potential in Renato,” teammate Kimmich said. “If you want to sign a player like him, you have to pay €60 million on the transfer market these days,” he added.
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Renato Sanches was at one point linked to Bayern’s next opponent Milan, but a transfer seems now next to impossible. It is, however, not the only link between the two clubs. Like Bayern, Milan are very much dependent on the goals of a Polish goalscoring sensation. Krzysztof Piątek was sensational for Milan last season and will lead the line for Milan against Bayern on Tuesday.
AC Milan finished fifth in Serie A last season, and Piątek managed to score nine goals in 18 games for I Rossoneri. The Polish forward will, however, not be the only player Bayern will have to look out for on Tuesday night. Among the players that have travelled to the United States are Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paquetá and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Bayern has met Milan on ten different occasions, and Bayern only beat Milan once all the way back in the semifinal of the 1990 European Cup. But one has to dig deep to find the last matchup between the two sides on European soil, which was a 2-0 defeat for Bayern in the 2007 Champions League quarter finals.
More recently, these sides met twice in the International Champions Cup. In the 2016 edition, Chicago played host to an entertaining 3-3 draw between the teams. Ultimately, Gianluigi Donnarumma came up big for Milan, saving a penalty in the shootout to ensure the win for the Rossoneri. The following year, Milan won again, this time in definitive fashion, defeating the Bavarians 4-0 at Longgang Stadium in Shenzhen, China.