Sammer calls for business as usual

With nine days still to go prior to kick-off at Wembley, the German sports media is already brimming with material on the Bayern versus Dortmund Champions League final. The fans can hardly wait either, as shown on Thursday when all 45,000 tickets for a Public Viewing event at the Allianz Arena were snapped up in just six hours. However, at the Säbener Strasse, no-one is in anything like this frenzied state.

Board member for sport Matthias Sammer underlined the need for calm when he spoke to FCB.tv. “We need normality, professionalism, cool heads, serenity, and everyday things. Given our team’s stability and ability to perform, we have no reason suddenly to throw the focus so heavily on the final that we start thinking we should be doing a number of things differently."

Sammer's motto is business as usual, at least as far as that remains possible. “We don't need to start feeling cramped or that we need to push too hard," continued the board director, “it's much too early as well. For now, Mönchengladbach is the centre of attention." And when Bayern go to the lower Rhineland for Saturday's final Bundesliga fixture, “business as usual" would mean another win for the champions.