With the departure of iconic keeper Oka Nikolov, Alexander Meier is Eintracht Frankfurt's longest-serving professional. The Hesse side are Bayern's next Bundesliga opponents, and despite his team’s sobering 6-1 defeat to promoted Hertha Berlin on opening day, the goalscoring midfielder still feels Eintracht can cause FCB problems on their home field. fcbayern.de spoke to the former Germany U-21 international.
Interview: Alex Meier
fcbayern.de: Hello Alex, you and your team-mates successfully negotiated the first round of the cup, but you came down to earth with a bump on Bundesliga opening day when you lost 6-1 in Berlin. Now that a few days have passed, how would you assess the game in the capital?
Alex Meier: It's very simple: we were extremely poor. Hertha were simply more aggressive and passionate than us. We failed to get stuck into our tackles, play aggressively and defend well.
Coach Armin Veh said he would conduct an unemotional analysis. What have you done to put the game behind you?
The coach has been in the business long enough to put the game in the right context. On the day after the match, we had an intensive analysis of the game and worked our way through it. Now we're concentrating on the Bayern clash.
As you say, Germany's biggest club visit Frankfurt on Saturday. What's changed about Bayern since the corresponding fixture in April?
Bayern were dominant in every respect last season, but the new signings and the arrival of Pep Guardiola mean they have even more quality in the team now. As before, they’re the gold standard for this league. Given the current Bayern squad, it'll be extremely tough for every other Bundesliga club.
You've been with Frankfurt since 2004 and you know the fans and the fan culture inside out. Is the meeting with the treble winners the best possible opportunity to make amends for the 6-1 defeat?
Under normal circumstances, Bayern would win the game, but no-one's unbeatable. We just want to build on our performances from last season, because turned in two really good performances against Bayern. That's what we're intending to do again this time.
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