There was a wide grin on the face of Jupp Heynckes as he entered the press room at Säbener Straße on Friday. On the eve of the Bundesliga match against Freiburg (Saturday, 15:30CEST – coverage via our live ticker), the 72-year-old spoke of his excitement ahead of his return to the dugout at the Allianz Arena, despite having a "tough week of work" behind him.
“I’ve held a lot of talks. We’ve looked to add some stimulus to training and work hard,” explained the coach, who claimed he still had tactical work to do on Friday. Despite the strenuous efforts of the last few days, Heynckes said he’s enjoyed it. “It was fun. I really liked how we all played our part,” the 2013 FIFA World Coach of the Year declared.
Vidal out
“We need a result, and then the confidence and self-belief will return. It’s important that the players gain belief in their own performances again,” said Heynckes on his aim for Saturday. The key to that is the team’s defensive work: “We’ve conceded too many goals. We have to be stable in defence and have a sense of coordination between the different parts of the team. We have so much class in attack that we can always do something there,” the coach continued.
An option for the team is for Javi Martinez to return to defensive midfield with Arturo Vidal absent due to a muscle problem. As well as the Chilean, Bayern will be without Manuel Neuer, Juan Bernat and Franck Ribery as they look to regain that confidence against Freiburg. “I’m expecting the team to be highly motivated and play with vigour,” Heynckes demanded.
His opposite number also sees it similarly. “It goes without saying that the Bayern Munich players will be itching to win on Saturday,” said Christian Streich, “But so are we.” Sitting in 15th, Freiburg were able to beat Hoffenheim just before the international break for their first win of the season and will be looking to take that confidence with them to Munich. “We don’t want to just be a sparring partner,” stressed Streich, who will be without Vincent Sierro and Marc Oliver Kempf for the visit.
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