It all feels a little incongruous at the moment, because at the same time as Germany's headline-grabbing demolition of the hosts at the World Cup in faraway Brazil, all 18 Bundesliga clubs are already deep into preparations for the new domestic campaign. And on Wednesday pre-season officially began at FC Bayern.
The Säbener Strasse media centre was full to capacity for the unveiling of new signings Robert Lewandowski and Sebastian Rode, so it was basically business as usual at Germany's biggest club, where everyone is familiar with the problem of a majority of the squad resuming training late due to commitments at major tournaments.
“There's no reason to be concerned,” stated Matthias Sammer. There are a little over six weeks to go until the first league fixture against Wolfsburg, “so there's every reason to do a good job every day from now on. And there's no reason to say to ourselves: We'll take it easy at the start!“
The board director for sport recalled the seasons after the last two World Cups when FCB struggled and ended up fourth (2006/07) and third (2010/11) respectively. “We can't afford a repeat. We don't want to be off the pace at the start, we want to set the pace again,” Sammer declared.
At the midday press conference Sammer also took questions about certain players. fcbayern.de listened in to the key statements:
What's the situation with Franck Ribéry?
“His back is looking much better. He had a personal fitness trainer and physio on holiday with him and he'll resume training here on 15 July. He might be fit enough for the full programme straightaway.”
When will Thiago be fit?
“His operation went extremely well, but it'll still be a while before he’s match fit. From our point of view he has all the time in the world because we need the ligament to heal completely. He's working hard at the moment on stamina and power. We need him fit.”
Why has the club brought in Juan Bernat?
“He's a very interesting young player who made a terrific breakthrough last season with Valencia. He’s very, very skilful, versatile, quick, aggressive and agile, and he knows where the goal is. But he has his feet on the ground, so is a great fit to this football club.”
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