By Monday lunchtime, as they started preparations in bright sunshine for the upcoming DFB Cup round of sixteen tie at Hertha BSC on Wednesday evening (20.45 local time), the FC Bayern pros had already long-digested the frustration of the weekend. Two days after the unlucky 3-1 Bundesliga defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, the mood in the team was already relaxed again - so much so that as well as footballs, one or two snowballs flew through the air at Säbener Straße.
"We have to use today's training session to forget about the game and look ahead," Leon Goretzka explained, after he and his teammates, along with head coach Niko Kovac, had analysed and "completely dismantled" the game in Leverkusen in a longer team meeting. The focus is now back on Wednesday evening, when FC Bayern will be aiming to progress to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup for the eleventh time in a row.
Lewandowski sits out training
Then, in the capital it'll be a case of win or get knocked out - which is quite to Leon Goretzka's taste: "I like this pressure. That's also why I came here. Under these circumstances, if you get it right, you can improve. That's exactly the kind of game it'll be on Wednesday," said the midfielder, who wouldn't mind continuing his run of four goals from the first three matches of the year: "Of course I'm happy to be able to help the team with my goals, and I'd like to continue to do the same."
The Germany international also liked the fact that in Thiago, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry three of the most recently injured top performers were back on the training ground: "They're extremely important players for us, they give us a special quality and we'll need them in the coming weeks as well," explained Goretzka. Robert Lewandowski, on the other hand, took things easier for reasons of individual load control and remained in the performance centre.
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