Bayern Munich Aiming for Treble Glory
Bayern’s season has moved from impressive to ominous. A 10-2 demolition of Atalanta on aggregate has carried them into the last eight of Europe, and waiting for them there are Real Madrid, fresh from a 5-1 dismantling of Manchester City. It is a tie soaked in history and ego, but one German legend has no doubts about where the balance of power lies.
Matthäus backs Bayern to bully Europe
Lothar Matthäus has never been shy with an opinion, and he is not starting now. Germany’s most capped player and a former Bayern captain sees a clear hierarchy in Europe at the moment – and he has his old club at the very top.
“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,” he said.
That is not a throwaway line. It is a direct challenge to the mythology of the competition’s greatest specialists. Real Madrid, 15-time European champions, are built for these nights and have sent Manchester City home in each of the last four seasons. Federico Valverde’s blistering hat-trick in the first leg of their last-16 tie against City underlined how dangerous Álvaro Arbeloa’s side remain, even while they stutter in La Liga.
Matthäus knows all of that. He still leans Bayern.
Talk of a treble
He does not stop at tipping them past Madrid. At 64, Matthäus has seen enough Bayern teams to separate hype from substance, and he believes this one carries the tools to chase history.
“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,” he added.
The numbers back up the swagger. In the Bundesliga, Bayern sit nine points clear of Borussia Dortmund after 26 games. The title race, usually a springtime debate in Germany, already feels close to settled. In the DFB-Pokal, they have a semi-final trip to Bayer Leverkusen on the horizon, and the German Supercup is already in the trophy cabinet.
This is not a team quietly building. It is one already collecting.
Hoeneß confident – with a warning
Uli Hoeneß, the club’s former president and still an influential voice around Säbener Straße, shares the confidence about domestic dominance, even if he is more guarded about the treble talk.
“I'd say we'll be German champions,” the 74-year-old said, delivering the kind of blunt assessment that has long defined him.
He, too, is impressed by what he sees on the pitch. Bayern, he argued, “haven't had such great chances in terms of playing quality for a long time as they have this year.” The praise is not casual; Hoeneß has overseen eras of overwhelming strength, and he is placing this squad in that company.
Yet he pauses when the conversation turns to the DFB-Pokal semi-final at Leverkusen. “This will be difficult,” he warned, acknowledging that the Werkself remain one of the few sides in Germany capable of genuinely stretching Bayern. The treble path, in his eyes, is far from a procession.
Kane at the heart of the charge
At the centre of Bayern’s ambition stands Harry Kane, and his numbers this season read like something from a video game. The England captain struck twice against Atalanta in the second leg, pushing his Champions League tally for the club to 19 goals in just 18 home games.
Across all competitions, he has scored 49 times. No striker in Europe’s top leagues has been more prolific.
Kane has given Bayern exactly what they wanted: a ruthless finisher who thrives under pressure, but also a focal point who drags defenders around and opens lanes for the runners behind him. In a team packed with technical quality, his penalty-box certainty has turned dominance of the ball into dominance of the scoreboard.
Bayern know the blueprint. They last lifted the Champions League in 2019-20, beating Paris Saint-Germain in Lisbon and completing a treble under Hansi Flick. That season set a modern standard for German clubs. Replicating it now, with a different coach and a different core, would send an even louder message.
There is another layer for Kane. If Bayern do go all the way in Europe again, he would become the first English player ever to win the competition with a German club. For a forward who spent so many years chasing major honours at Tottenham, that would be a career-defining twist – and it would catapult him into the front rank of Ballon d’Or contenders.
Bayern are already dictating the rhythm of this season. The question now is whether anyone, even Real Madrid, can stop them turning that rhythm into a treble beat.
