A quick birthday guard of honour for Leon Goretzka and then it was down to work as Bayern started a new week of training in good spirits and glorious weather. With the good feeling of Saturday's 3-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the back of their minds, Thomas Tuchel's men began preparations for the crunch clash at Bayer 04 Leverkusen this Saturday (18:30 CET).
Bayern face a big test against the current Bundesliga leaders. "Leverkusen are very good with the ball," commented Matthijs de Ligt. Teammate Harry Kane offered a similar prediction in the catacombs of the Allianz Arena last Saturday: "It's going to be a very difficult game. We have to fight and give our all to get the three points."
Neuer and Bryan sit out
Kane and Co went about their work with suitable zest at Säbener Straße. Manuel Neuer couldn't take part due to a slight knee problem, while new signig Bryan Zaragoza also sat out because of flu.
Along with Alphonso Davies, who sustained a knee ligament strain against Gladbach, Kingsley Coman (MCL), Dayot Upamecano (hamstring), Konrad Laimer (calf), Joshua Kimmich (shoulder), Bouna Sarr (ACL) and Serge Gnabry (adductor) were still absent from the group ahead of the top-of-the-table showdown. Meanwhile, the suspended Minjae Kim will be supporting his South Korean teammates as they bid to reach the final of the Asian Cup against Jordan without him this afternoon.
Peretz continues progress
On the positive side, Daniel Peretz continues to make progress around a month after his ligament injury and worked on an adjacent pitch with goalkeeping coach Michael Rechner and youth keeper Anthony Pavlešić. That must have also pleased the head coach, who knows just how tough a test his side are in for:
"We need to be on top form, nothing less will do," stated Tuchel on Saturday, looking ahead to the meeting with the Werkself. "Leverkusen are having an outstanding campaign but when they look in the rear-view mirror, it's only a two-point gap. We're there and we want to prove it."
Bayern came from behind to win in the home match against Mönchengladbach:
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