He is no Bavarian, but Anatoliy Tymoshchuk looks pretty good in Lederhosen. Some three weeks ago, the midfielder donned the traditional Bavarian outfit at a photo shoot for FCB Partner Paulaner breweries. “I felt great about wearing Lederhosen,” he reported. The Ukrainian will reach for the state’s ‘national’ costume again on Saturday evening, as it is the first day of Munich’s famed Oktoberfest, and the FCB squad always pay a visit. “It’s an important time of year here,” acknowledged the player, who has watched scenes from the festival on TV. “I was extremely impressed, even by the clothing.”
Just a couple of hours after the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel with the traditional cry of “O’zapft is!” Tymoshchuk will be wearing shorts of an altogether different kind, when FC Nürnberg visit the Allianz Arena in the league. The 30-year-old, who switched to Munich from St. Petersburg in the summer, has been hearing plenty about the deep rivalry in the all-Bavaria derby. “I’ve been told a lot about this match,” he confirmed, although he will need no special motivation on Saturday. “I approach every game as if it was a derby.”
Fighting talk all round
Tymoshchuk has faced Nürnberg once in the past, when Zenit St. Petersburg and Bayern’s neighbours drew 2-2 in the UEFA Cup group phase. The player is expecting the men from Franconia to put up stiff resistance at the weekend. “I know Nürnberg will give it everything, they’ll come out and fight as if it was their last ever game,” he surmised, “but we’ll fight back.”
Similar views were to be heard from the FCN camp. “We won’t be quaking in our boots. We have a perfectly good chance of coming away with a result,” trumpeted Nürnberg boss Michael Oenning. The promoted club, who beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 last weekend to record a first win of term, remain undefeated away from home so far, after a goalless draw in Stuttgart, and a 1-1 draw in Frankfurt. “We have no reason to hide,” continued Oenning.
However, Bayern’s record during the Oktoberfest hardly offers hope to the men from Nürnberg, as Munich have only lost seven of 73 home games played during the world’s biggest annual fair. FCN have been on the receiving end at this time of year in both of the last two seasons. Bayern won a cup meeting 2-0 last term, and the league fixture 3-0 a year before that.
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