Hummels: ‘We want to seal it on Saturday’
After Jupp Heynckes gave his players the day off after the hard-fought 2-1 win at Sevilla in the Champions League, the Bayern pros returned to the training ground on Thursday. Two days after the intensive encounter in Spain, the focus is now on Saturday’s Bundesliga fixture at FC Augsburg with the opportunity to secure the club’s 28th league title.
With the exception of goalkeeper Sven Ulreich and Juan Bernat, who went off injured at half-time at Sevilla, the players who started the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night completed a recovery session. The other Bayern pros were joined by youth players in passing and shooting drills. In view of the busy period of fixtures coming up in April, Heynckes is looking to find the right balance: on the one hand easing the work-rate and, on the other, preparing for the forthcoming challenges.
Bundesliga title ‘preferably down to us’
“We want to maintain our rhythm,”said Mats Hummels, not expecting a drop in performance levels from the team in the Bundesliga. “The logical result would be to lift the league title,” added the 29-year-old. With a 17-point lead over second-placed FC Schalke 04, Bayern do not want to rely on the Royal Blues dropping points away to bottom-of-the-table Hamburg SV on Saturday night. Hummels & Co. want to secure the Bundesliga title by their own efforts. “That’s obviously what we’re aiming for. We definitely want to seal it on Saturday, preferably it will be down to us,” said the Germany international.