Bayern’s demolition of Atalanta and Real Madrid’s ruthless dismissal of Manchester City have given Europe the quarter-final showdown it wanted: a heavyweight clash dressed up as a mere last-eight tie. One club chasing a new treble, the other defending an empire built on 15 European crowns.
Into that arena walks Lothar Matthäus, never shy, never neutral, and certainly not cautious.
Matthäus backs Bayern to topple the kings
Bayern didn’t just edge past Atalanta; they tore them apart. A 10-2 aggregate win is the kind of scoreline that looks like a misprint, yet it reflects a side that has been playing at full throttle for months rather than weeks. Real Madrid, for their part, brushed City aside 5-1 over two legs, extending a remarkable run of dominance over Pep Guardiola’s team.
Plenty would stop there and call it even. Matthäus goes the other way.
“Bayern is the team that is currently performing best in Europe. Not just because of two games, but actually over the entire year. That's why Bayern is also the favourite against Real Madrid for me,” Germany’s most capped player insisted.
Calling anyone a favourite against Real Madrid in Europe is close to heresy. Los Blancos have turned this competition into their private stage, lifting the trophy 15 times and knocking City out in each of the last four seasons. Federico Valverde’s hat-trick in the first leg of their last-16 tie was another reminder that Álvaro Arbeloa’s side can explode into life even when their La Liga form wobbles.
Yet Matthäus is unmoved. He sees a Bayern side with rhythm, depth and an edge that looks built for May, not just March.
Talk of a treble returns to Munich
The former Bayern captain doesn’t just see his old club edging Madrid. He sees something bigger brewing.
“I believe Bayern can not only win the title, but even the treble this year. The chances are definitely there, and the quality in the team is excellent at both ends of the pitch,” the 64-year-old said.
It is a loaded word in Munich: treble. The last time a German club pulled it off was Bayern’s own 2019-20 campaign under Hansi Flick, when they swept the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League, finishing the job against Paris Saint-Germain in Lisbon.
The domestic picture already leans their way. After 26 Bundesliga games, Bayern sit nine points clear of Borussia Dortmund, their grip on the title firm and unshaken. The German Supercup is already in the trophy room. In the DFB-Pokal, only an away semi-final at Bayer Leverkusen stands between them and another final in Berlin.
The path is there. The margins, as ever, will be thin.
Hoeness injects a note of caution
Inside the club’s corridors, the mood is buoyant but not reckless. Uli Hoeness, the former president and long-time powerbroker, sounds confident about the league but stops short of embracing treble fever.
“I'd say we'll be German champions,” the 74-year-old stated, with the kind of certainty that comes from decades of title races. He shares Matthäus’s admiration for the squad, arguing Bayern “haven't had such great chances in terms of playing quality for a long time as they have this year.”
Then he circles one fixture in red ink: Leverkusen away in the DFB-Pokal.
“This will be difficult,” he warned, a clear acknowledgement that the Werkself remain one of the few German sides capable of stretching Bayern to their limits. For all the talk of trebles and European dominance, one bad night in Leverkusen could rip out a third of the dream.
Kane at the heart of everything
Threaded through every competition, every ambition, is Harry Kane.
The England captain has not just settled in Munich; he has redefined Bayern’s attacking ceiling. Two more goals against Atalanta in the second leg pushed his Champions League tally for the club to 19 goals in 18 home games, a staggering strike rate at a stage where chances usually dry up.
Across all competitions this season, he sits on 49 goals, the most prolific striker in Europe’s top leagues. Those numbers aren’t padding; they are the foundation of Bayern’s belief that no tie is out of reach, no deficit too big.
Bayern know what a treble looks and feels like. They lived it in 2019-20. The difference now is the presence of a centre-forward whose personal narrative runs alongside the club’s ambition. If they manage to reclaim the Champions League in 2026, Kane would become the first English player to win the competition with a German club.
For a forward long judged on what he hadn’t won rather than what he had delivered, that would be a career-defining shift. It would also propel him straight into the heart of the Ballon d’Or conversation, no longer the nearly man but the figurehead of a Bayern side that turned potential into dominance.
The stage is set: Bayern charging towards another treble, Real Madrid guarding their European throne, and Kane chasing history with every goal. The question now is not whether they believe — it’s whether anyone can stop them.
