Jérôme Boateng and the supposedly poor condition of the pitch – none of this was an issue for Thomas Tuchel before the game at FC Copenhagen.
On paper, the opening opponent in the Champions League, Manchester United, was the better caliber. Munich won the game at home 4:3. But with FC Copenhagen waiting on Tuesday (kick-off: 9 p.m./audio stream at sportschau.de) a team against the German record champions that has recently been unbeatable for other top teams.
Tuchel: “I would like to be the first to win here”
“They didn’t lose a game in the group stage against City, Sevilla and Dortmund last season,” said Tuchel. “That speaks volumes about the quality. But we would like to be the first to do it.”
In such a short time – after the final training session in the evening there are only two short video sessions for the Bayern professionals – he wants to give his players the most important things and develop a plan to win the second group game in the premier class.
“Clear handwriting” and quality in all Team sharing
For the international press, the Munich coach listed FC Copenhagen’s most important qualities, which he attested to a “clear handwriting” from coach Jacob Neestrup: “We expect them in 4-3-3. They are dangerous on the counterattack and have a good mix long balls and short combination play, a lot of agile speed in the front row, a robust, strong midfield, plus a goalkeeper with extremely long throws and kicks. We have to be careful.”
One thing is clear: Bayern want to continue their record series in the Parken Stadium. They have been unbeaten in 35 group games in Europe’s premier class. The last defeat – a 3-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain – was six years ago. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will still not be able to help, nor will the injured Serge Gnabry and Matthijs de Ligt.
Bad place? Tuchel wants to adapt his style of play if necessary
Other topics, such as Boateng’s training guest appearance, about which he was asked several times, seemed rather annoying to Tuchel in preparation for the game. He and the team want to see in the final training that the pitch in Copenhagen is supposedly in poor condition: “I’m even more pleased that we decided that way,” said Tuchel, referring to the final training that Bayern is having at the venue this time and not in Munich as usual.
“If the pitch doesn’t meet our expectations, we have to digest it and accept it. If necessary, we will adapt our style of play.”
