When Konrad Laimer and his teammates stepped out onto the training ground at Säbener Straße with beaming smiles amid bright Munich sunshine on Monday afternoon, it very much reflected the mood in the Bayern camp right now. A perfect week with three wins and 20 goals scored gave the team and the coaches plenty to be happy about ahead of the squad’s traditional visit to the Oktoberfest on Sunday.
Great feeling after best start ever
The good feeling was written all over the players’ faces at Monday’s training session after a great start to the season.
“We don't even have to drink ourselves into a good mood,” joked Thomas Müller in his usual manner at the Theresienwiese. Especially as they knew they had to be responsible with their drinks at the Volksfest given the challenges to come. That starts against no less than champions Bayer Leverkusen next Saturday.
“We’ve won the games we have to win, and now have a week to prepare. It’ll then be a different game,” said head coach Vincent Kompany after the weekend’s 5-0 win at Werder Bremen that marked the best-ever start to a Bundesliga season. No team had ever before kicked off the campaign with four wins from four and a goal difference as high as +13. However, Kompany’s team now face a game that will “determine where we're at. It’ll be a great game against the champions. Everyone wants to win against the champions”.
Leroy Sané and Bayern kicked off the week focusing on the coming clash with champions Leverkusen.
The coach will no doubt also be pleased to hear that the already well-oiled FCB attacking machine could be about to get another boost after forward Arijon Ibrahimović returned to team training at the start of the week. After tearing a muscle at the end of July, the Germany youth international had already completed warm-ups with his colleagues in recent days and was now able to play a full part again. Manuel Neuer, on the other hand, who had to pull out of the Bremen game shortly before kick-off due to a slight reaction in his thigh, is still in recovery training. Mathys Tel also took a break due to back problems.
Arijon Ibrahimović was able to take full part in Bayern training on Monday.
Bayern got back to work in training with a high level of concentration and vigour. “We have to go into the game against Leverkusen with the same mentality, the same hunger as in the previous games,” said Harry Kane after the win in Bremen. The results so far this season give FCB every reason to go into the match with confidence. “We're at home, it's going to be a great game,” added Kane.
“Controlled euphoria”
The team has built up that confidence, according to board member for sport Max Eberl. But now the magic word is “controlled euphoria”. The team must always remember “what the foundation is that makes us so successful. That is work. We have to do that again now to be ready against Leverkusen”. The team have five days to continue working on that and prove themselves once again in Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash.
Look back on the weekend’s commanding display in Bremen:
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