Hasan Salihamidzic still can’t live without the ball even five and half years after hanging up his boots. While the current FC Bayern sporting director was watching the team train from the touchline in Doha, he still ensured he had a football in his hands or at his feet. However, his focus isn’t on those balls but what his players are doing with it on the pitch.
“The lads are absolutely on the ball,” said Salihamidzic in praise of the team’s intensity during training on the second day of the training camp in Doha. “The mood is very good. Everyone’s positive and working to the maximum. It’s great to see,” the 2001 Champions League winner stressed just two days after his 41st birthday.
“Improve the little things”
Sporting a fresh tan after a family holiday to Thailand, Salihamidzic is setting the example in Doha of what it means to concentrate on work but also enjoy it. Always one for a quick quip, he’s also always eager for a serious discussion with the coaches and players. “It’s a brief but important time here which we want to use to the maximum,” he said on the short training camp. “We’re working very hard and intensively, and want to try to improve the little things.”
Salihamidzic believes the club has “turned things around” after the change of coach in the first half of the season with Bayern winning 15 of the 16 games under Jupp Heynckes. “It’s a great performance and now we’re working on continuing where we left off.” However, he isn’t wasting time thinking about the Champions League last-16 tie with Besiktas just yet. “I’m thinking about Leverkusen now," he stressed with a view towards the kick-off of the second half of the season on 12 January. “It’s important that we think about things game by game.”
Topics of this article