It's off to Spain! FC Bayern face Villarreal CF in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. “They’re a good team,” said board member for sport Hasan Salihamidžić on Unai Emery’s side, who Bayern will play on 6 and 12 April. We’ve jotted down the best statements from Salihamidžić on the draw, the return of Robert Lewandowski in training and the weeks ahead in the Bundesliga:
Hasan Salihamidžić on...
…Villarreal CF: “The Champions League is special with the knockout system. With two good performances on the day you can achieve a lot. Villarreal are the defending Europa League winners, so they’re a good team, no question. We're FC Bayern and we'll travel there with a lot of confidence. We won't underestimate them.”
…team news: “We’ll hopefully have everyone on board again after the international break. Leon Goretzka is slowly coming back, Alphonso Davies is also making very good progress and Coco Tolisso has started training again. Unfortunately Benji Pavard has tested positive now. Niklas Süle has suffered a minor muscle injury and will hopefully be back after the international break, too. We’ll then concentrate on some crucial weeks - in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League.”
…Robert Lewandowski: “Lewy trained completely normally again today, he had no problems, it’s looking good. We’re pleased that he’s back.”
…Union Berlin: “We’re looking forward to the match against Union Berlin tomorrow - also because there’ll be 35,000 spectators there. We simply have to win the match in order to go into the international break with a four-point lead.”
...the weeks ahead: “We have to become more efficient again in the coming weeks and then we hope that we’ve got more busy weeks to come. We’re playing good football but we need to reward ourselves for it and be clinical in front of goal. Our team have a great chance to have a very successful season. Dortmund can only concentrate on the Bundesliga now and can rest during the week. Because we’re going to be in a continuous rhythm, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
We present our next opponents in the Champions League:
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