Before the crucial encounter at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday midnight (according to Indian time) in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, experienced striker of Bayern Munich, Thomas Muller who won three of his 11 Bundesliga titles under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola at Bayern between 2013 and 2016 divulged he relishes the challenge. The striker also divulged that he is very much aware of the fact that how the match will be difficult to know against a team guided by Pep Guardiola but he believes the current Bundeshliga leaders can rise to the occasion.

Speaking to Bundesliga's official website, Muller said, "I was waiting for this for a long time but I also was not at the same time because I played in his teams for three years and I did not get the impression that the opposing teams were very happy to play against Pep teams," 

He added, "You can be successful and you can beat everybody, and Man City has very good players, but the style of Pep's teams means a lot of running for the opposition team. I think there may be teams who are more fun to play against. However, we have been very sharp and very good in our performances and results in these kinds of games this season and we are confident. We played against City in pre-season, so we all know that when City is on a good run, it means that you have to suffer for maybe more than five minutes during the game."

Muller has already won the Champions League twice as a Bayern player in 2012/13 and 2019/20. The pair of Muller and Pep won seven trophies, and Bayern's iconic No. 25 revealed that the current Manchester City boss altered the way he sees the game.

The 33-year-old striker explained, "You are influenced by these guys around you every day and Pep is a strong influencer. He shows you a lot, and I was always open-minded and tried to pick out what was helping me or what was helping the team. He taught me the kind of positioning and the kind of preparation for an attack, and the most important thing in my mind was discipline. The discipline of his teams was better than in any teams I have played in. I do not mean the discipline of being on time, which is also an important aspect, but the discipline on the pitch of the movements and of the defenders and the whole team on the ball and off the ball. When you look at our records, I think we hardly conceded 20 goals a season with Pep which was remarkable."

Bayern has already been crowned European champions six times, but now they need to supersede to edge past an old foe to win the Champions League this season. That is Erling Haaland. Significantly, Norwegian sensation Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 matches across all competitions while playing for Dortumund between January 2020 and May 2022. The 22-year-old has also been devastating in his first season with City, netting 44 times in 38 games for his new club.