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Instead, the questions that were posed in different guises, from the circuitous and the insinuated to the blunt, were variants of the same — how many goals would the national side concede. Such is the nature of the Bayern Munich beast.

The four-time champions of Europe arrived on Monday evening from their training camp in Doha, and their immediate form, however, would be cause for both hope and despair for the Indian side, if one is to treat the match purely as a competitive fixture. Bayern thrashed Qatar side Al Sailiya 13-0 but a few days later, laboured to a 2-1 win over Al Alhy.

In both matches, Bayern fielded a full strength team, which featured the likes of skipper Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery, Mario Gomez and golden boot winner Thomas Mueller, who have all travelled to India. Jupp Heynckes, the coach, said Tuesday’s match would see his team continue its quest for match-time before the winter break comes to an end.

“The second leg of the Bundesliga is less than two weeks away and every one is fit and raring to go,” he said, before leaving the more ominous bit to the end. “We hope for a good, entertaining match and that the people will get to know what a good European team is like.”

The strength in depth of the squad was such that even when the Bavarians featured a completely different eleven in the second half against Al Sailiya, the alteration hardly affected their poise, or the result. With Bhutia not a certainty to last the match — the persistent ankle injury that forced him to retire may not allow the striker the luxury of walking off the pitch at the final whistle — and Sunil Chhetri out injured, India’s forward line already appears wafer-thin. In the event, when India coach Savio Medeira pointed out the gulf in class between the two sides, he was only stating the obvious. “Our preparations have been OK and we are ready, but the difference in standards between Germany and India is huge. We hope we can give the crowd a good game,” he said.