Beckenbauer expects Barcelona dirty tricks

Posted Tuesday, April 30, 2013 by Foxsports.com

Franz Beckenbauer stated Barcelona will be tempted to use "dirty tricks" to overturn the four-goal deficit against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final.

Bayern visit the Camp Nou on Wednesday with Barcelona having to overturn what was their worst scoreline in the knockout stages of the competition.

The Barca camp have remained defiant, however, and have vowed to put in a determined show to try and become the first side in history to overturn such a large margin in continental competition.

Beckenbauer, a Bayern legend in the 1970s who won three consecutive European Cup finals, expects the Spaniards to even resort to illicit means to come up with the required result.

"Barcelona will use any trick in the book to throw Bayern off balance. They'll not hesitate to use methods that are against the rules of the game as well as legitimate tricks. They will fight back," Beckenbauer warned Bayern in an interview with Bild.

"They will not give up. They will give their all to turn things around. They will try to provoke Bayern and use dirty tricks if necessary.

"Barca will probably try to make it a physical battle in order to disrupt Bayern's game. Bayern must try and avoid a lot of personal duels. There will be plenty of minor fouls."

It has been 19 years since Barcelona lost by such a large margin with the previous result having occured in a 4-0 hammering at the hands of AC Milan in the 1994 European Cup final.