Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich says Bayern Munich are out to avenge their Champions League thrashing at the hands of the Paris Saint-Germain when the teams clash again in Bavaria today. Bayern crashed to a 3-0 defeat in Paris at the end of September, when Dani Alves, Edinson Cavani and Neymar all scored at the Parc de Princes.
The defeat led to the Germans firing Carlo Ancelotti and rehired Jupp Heynckes as head coach. Since then, Bayern have won ten of their 11 games. With both teams through to the last 16, Bayern need to beat PSG by four goals at the Allianz Arena today to wrest top spot in the group, but the Germans have a score to settle regardless of the result.
“Of course we want revenge, it will be difficult to win the group, but it’s about prestige and we want to show the first leg was just a slip up,” Ulreich said. Bayern’s hopes received a boost on Saturday as PSG suffered their first French league defeat this season, crashing 2-1 at Racing Strasbourg, while the Germans beat Hanover 96 3-1 in Munich.
“We are realistic: it’s not about winning the group, it’s about prestige,” said Heynckes in yesterday’s press conference. “We want to make the first-leg performance a thing of the past. We want to show not only that Bayern has a big history, but that we are at the same level with a team which has invested 500mn euros in the last year. I am very confident that I will be able to give the supporters a pleasant evening.”
Ancelotti dropped senior stars Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels from his starting line-up in Paris and Bayern are still smarting from the heavy away defeat. “It was a black evening for us, we didn’t play the football we can,” admitted defender Niklas Suele, who played in Paris instead of Hummels. “The line-up had nothing to do with it, I was pleased to have been able to play, but not much worked that night.”
Winger Kingsley Coman says Bayern have something to prove to themselves and the rest of Europe against his former club. “The first game is still in our heads,” said the 21-year-old who started his career in Paris. “We have to prove to ourselves, and the rest of Europe, that we are still one of the top teams and can win games like this.”
Ulreich is tipping Bayern to win 2-0 at home and says the current squad can go far in the knock-out stages. “When everyone is fit, we have a lot of potential in the squad and I see our prospects as being very positive, but we need all our players to do that, but I am confident,” he said.
Heynckes takes Bayern back to basics
Heynckes, the 72-year-old disciplinarian who has steadied the ship at Bayern Munich, has urged his side to keep it simple against PSG. 
Heynckes has stamped his authority on his fourth stint at the club after Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and president Uli Hoeness turned to their 2013 treble-winning coach in their hour of need. Bayern won nine of their ten following matches and now hold a six-point lead in the Bundesliga.
Heynckes sees the game as pure psychology. “We want to beat them and show off what we are capable of. Everything else is far from realistic,” he added. “I am someone who demands a lot,’ Heynckes said on his return. The players will have to get used to that. Discipline is a part of life and work.”
Former AC Milan and Chelsea boss Ancelotti had lost his dressing room long before the PSG hammering. Robben quipped that training sessions at his son’s junior team in Munich were tougher than what had become the norm at Bayern, but Heynckes tightened discipline immediately.
He insists on politeness and punctuality at all times. Mobile phones are expected to be neither seen nor heard and training sessions start an hour earlier than under Ancelotti. The players tidy the dressing room and eat together after training. Heynckes is a Champions League expert, winning it twice in the three seasons he has been involved in the competition. In 1997-98, he lifted the trophy with Real Madrid in his only season at the Santiago Bernabeu. With Bayern, he suffered the heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out defeat against Chelsea in the 2012 final in Munich.
A year later, Heynckes lifted the trophy when Bayern became the first German club to win the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles before he was replaced by Pep Guardiola. Of his 2013 treble-winning side, Robben, Ribery, Thomas Muller, Rafinha, Jerome Boateng, Manuel Neuer and Javi Martinez are still at Bayern.
Heynckes’ return has been a big plus for Mueller and Boateng who both struggled for game time under Ancelotti. Heynckes also identified that James Rodriguez, on loan from Real, was struggling to settle in Munich, so started addressing the Colombian in Spanish.
He has also worked wonders with Arturo Vidal, having already worked with the Chilean at Bayer Leverkusen between 2009 and 2011. The midfielder has made a vast improvement since Heynckes told him to knuckle down in training and Vidal has scored in each of his last three games.
Heynckes’ future beyond 2017/18 remains unclear. Bayern want him to stay on, but Heynckes insists he is leaving in June, revealing he “still doesn’t have a contract” while at a fan-club visit on Sunday.

Champions League fixtures
this week (all 1945 GMT):
Playing today
Group A: At Lisbon: Benfica (POR) v Basel (SUI); At Manchester, England: Manchester United (ENG) v CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Group B: At Glasgow, Scotland: Celtic (SCO) v Anderlecht (BEL); At Munich, Germany: Bayern Munich (GER) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Group C: At London: Chelsea (ENG) v Atletico Madrid (ESP); At Rome: Roma (ITA) v Qarabag (AZE)
Group D: At Barcelona, Spain: Barcelona (ESP) v Sporting Lisbon (POR); At Piraeus, Greece: Olympiakos (GRE) v Juventus (ITA)

Playing tomorrow
Group E: At Liverpool, England: Liverpool (ENG) v Spartak Moscow (RUS); At Maribor, Slovenia: Maribor (SLO) v Sevilla (ESP)
Group F: At Kharkiv, Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Manchester City (ENG); At Rotterdam, Netherlands: Feyenoord (NED) v Napoli (ITA)
Group G: At Leipzig, Germany: RB Leipzig (GER) v Besiktas (TUR); At Porto, Portugal: Porto (POR) v Monaco (FRA)
Group H: At London: Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) v APOEL (CYP); At Madrid: Real
Madrid (ESP) v Borussia Dortmund (GER)