Daniel van Buyten is not at Bayern to score goals, although he was the only man in red who did succeed in hitting the target in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Köln. The centre-half, engaged in a four-way contest with Martin Demichelis, Lucio and Breno for two places in the Bayern line-up, made a first start since the winter break last weekend, and is hoping to retain his place for the Champions League clash in Lisbon. The 31-year-old spoke to fcbayern.de on board the team plane to Portugal about his personal situation and the meeting with Sporting.
Interview: Daniel Van Buyten:
fcbayern.de: Daniel, how did you feel when you boarded the plane this lunchtime?
Van Buyten: "My feeling was that we can make amends for plenty of things in Lisbon. A win would give us a boost for the Bundesliga.“
fcbayern.de: What will be the decisive factors in Lisbon?
Van Buyten: "We know Sporting are in great shape at the moment, and we're in for a really hard evening's work. But I believe we have the quality to get the job done, despite our patchy form in the Bundesliga. We have to try and score a goal, and ensure we don't concede. A 1-0 win wouldn't be a bad result.“
fcbayern.de: You faced Sporting with Bayern just two years ago.
Van Buyten: "We won 1-0 at their place, but it was a very tight game. We were under pressure, we played with ten men for a very long time, the stadium was a cauldron. But we came away with the win, and hopefully we can do it again.“
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