Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany is fully aware of the challenge that his team will face on Saturday against Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker.
“We have the motivation for this Klassiker, first against
second, both unbeaten. We’re looking forward to this game. They’ve shown a lot of stability, have players who can always score, with Serhou Guirassy a player who doesn’t need many chances to score. And a lot of experience in the center-backs, as well as in midfield. There are different qualities there, and Dortmund is a strong team overall. But we’re playing at home and are really, really excited for this game. Hopefully it will be a good game for the fans and a good result for us,” said Kompany (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “BVB now have a clear system and profile. When you join as a coach during a season, you never have much time to rebuild the team. But now they’re a team. Talking about us, I think the opposition need to find some solutions. When we go into a game, I never forget that the opposition also need to resolve many things.”
Kompany talked about the availability of his players, which did not signal any new information. However, Kompany did address Harry Kane playing a full 90 minutes for England vs. Latvia earlier this week after battling an ankle injury. The coach seemed okay with that decision by Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel, who was also his predecessor at Bayern Munich.
“Everyone is back fit from international duty. (Raphaël) Guerreiro took a knock against Frankfurt. He’ll train today, and if everything goes well, he has a chance for tomorrow. (Josip) Stanišić will miss the game,” Kompany stated. “I’m not the coach of England or Germany; that’s for the national team coaches to decide. We all want Harry to be fit for the season and for the World Cup – we have common goals in that regard. Nobody gains anything if the player isn’t healthy. He didn’t play the first game and was given enough time to rest for the next one, so it’s all good.”
When asked about the possibility of equaling Borussia Dortmund’s record start to a season in 2015 (11 wins in 11 games), Kompany said that it was not a motivating factor for the game.
“That’s not a thing for me. We just want to win. These top games against Dortmund are almost like their own cup competition. I mean in the sense that it doesn’t matter if you’re on a run of five wins or defeats. You just want to win this game. I don’t want it to be reduced to a record or three points. We just want to beat Dortmund. It’s that simple,” Kompany said.
After an eventful international break, Bayern Munich is back in action — and what better way to kick off this portion of the Bundesliga schedule than with Der Klassiker vs. Borussia Dortmund.
This should be fun.
The Bavarians have been riding high and have hammered most teams in their path, while BVB has been extremely solid as well. This should make for quite the battle, so let’s get into it. This is what we have on tap for this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show:
- What to watch for with Borussia Dortmund.
- A look at Bayern Munich’s injury situation.
- A guess at Bayern Munich’s starting XI.
- A prediction on the match.
