The Germany forward, who starred in the 6-1 thrashing on Tuesday, said the goalkeeper had advised them to expect a very different sort of game at the Allianz Arena
Thomas Muller has revealed that Pepe Reina was the real key to Bayern Munich thrashing of Porto on Tuesday.
The Bavarians were under pressure heading into the Champions League quarter-final decider having lost the first leg 3-1 in Portugal last week, with injuries still affecting Pep Guardiola’s options.
However, Bayern’s critics were blown out of the water – along with Julen Lopetegui’s men – as goals from Robert Lewandowski, Thiago, Jerome Boateng, Muller and Xabi Alonso propelled the Bundesliga champions to a 6-1 rout in Munich.
Muller later explained that Reina – who faced Porto with Napoli last season – had prepared his team-mates to expect a very different side to the one which played so impressively in the first leg.
“Pepe Reina was the inside man for us. He played against them last year when at Napoli and told us they were a different team away from home,” Muller, whose goal deflected off Bruno Martins Indi and between the outstretched legs of flailing goalkeeper Fabiano, told Sky Sport.
“We needed to change our attack and we did that. We found a lot more space in the final third. We didn’t get our attacking pressing going in the second half because we were tired from the first.”
When asked about his own goal, he joked: “What an absolute world-class hit, right? The second team coach told me if you don’t know what to do with the ball, shoot, so that’s what I did.”
Guardiola suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the encounter and Muller pointed the finger of blame at his coach’s Italian tailors for the incident.
“Italian tailors make trousers really tight, that’s probably why Pep’s broke!” he said.
Bayern join Barcelona – who triumphed 5-1 on aggregate over Paris Saint-Germain – in the last four of the elite European tournament.