Bayern’s bosses rely on anecdotes from the past in the championship fight, BVB gets encouragement from Jürgen Klopp – and seems more self-confident than FCB.
The fact that Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic approached the team to encourage them again for the upcoming season finale sounds like a great idea. Only a few little things seem a bit irritating. The CEO and sporting director of FC Bayern Munich had only rounded up a few selected professionals for their speech, it was the team council with captain Manuel Neuer, who doesn’t play at all, with Thomas Müller, who doesn’t always play, with Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Kingsley Coman.
The deficits were also addressed
It was, as Müller later reported to “Sportbild”, not just a motivational speech, but the performance fluctuations of the team also came up on the table. Then there was also the “Mia-san-Mia attitude”, which the bosses obviously see great room for improvement, especially when they think about their own past. And they then talked about it in detail and dug up the good experiences from the championship final 22 years ago, when FC Schalke only became champions of hearts and Bayern triumphed at the last minute.
“The bosses passed on their experience to us. It was a good exchange.”Müller summarized, sounding moderately enthusiastic, and conceded: “The weeks weren’t easy for the club, for us as a team. That’s why we got together again and talked about which screws we could turn.”
Adjusting screw test against RB Leipzig
The 6-0 win against FC Schalke last Saturday (May 6th, 2023) showed that many adjustment screws are already showing a very good torque. But that may also have had a lot to do with the desolate opponent that day. The significantly more meaningful adjustment screw test is now waiting on Saturday (6.30 p.m., live ticker and live radio report at sportschau.de).
Bayern have RB Leipzig as guests, Marco Rose’s team has recently recovered completely and regained third place in the table. Dortmund plays at FC Augsburg the next day and finally has 1. FSV Mainz 05 as a guest. At the same time, Bayern have to go to Cologne on the last day of the game.
Terzic puts pressure on – “Bayern have to, we will…”
This remaining program, especially with Bayern’s task against the counterattacking strong Leipzig, is the point on which the BVB supporters and coach Edin Terzic are counting: “We showed that we will believe in it to the end and that we will chase everything until the end. We have two games left. Bayern have to step on it, we will step on it.” Bayern “must” – that leaves room for the opposite. We “will” – clearly not.
The psychology of pressure, which Uli Hoeneß reinvented in this duel and much earlier, for example, in his feuds with Willi Lemke or Christoph Daum, is also mastered by Terzic. Terzic doesn’t seem as transparent and less blustering as Hoeneß, of whom surprisingly little is heard in the championship final.
Hainer justifies himself for Müller’s interference
Instead, Bavaria’s current President Herbert Hainer suddenly had to justify himself publicly. He last had Thomas Müller as “indispensable” referred to, which was interpreted as interference in Thomas Tuchel’s line-up – because Tuchel can surprisingly often do without Müller. However, Hainer then emphasized that such interference was completely alien to him.
He just wanted to express that Müller “Embodies this Bavarian mentality, the ‘Mia san Mia’, he’s an incredible motivator on the field.” So he actually wanted to express that Müller is indispensable in the line-up. And that Hainer also addresses this missing “Mia san Mia” again, when this Müller is not on the field, that doesn’t seem as self-confident as it did with Hoeneß.
Painting becomes key player, Gnabry back in shape
The next two days will show how crucial these mind games are. Perhaps the championship fight will also be decided on a purely sporting basis. At BVB, the offensive has really gotten going thanks to the outstanding form of Donyell Malen, but also Sebastien Haller, Julian Brandt and Karim Adeymi. Malen alone, who has already been labeled a bad buy, has contributed nine goals and four assists, and Dortmund has won 13 of his 17 games this year.
At Bayern, Serge Gnabry slipped into a long-lasting slump after the World Cup, but is now suddenly really indispensable again: he scored four goals in the last three games.
Klopp believes in Dortmund
BVB cult coach and now Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp is nevertheless convinced that Dortmund will triumph in the end: “After eleven years, the shell simply belongs back to Dortmund, the boys can do it. The chance is great, they will seize it.”
To do this, BVB must score two more points than Bayern, as the goal difference clearly speaks for the record champions: plus 55 at FCB, plus 36 at Dortmund. Funny that there is still so little “Mia-san-Mia” feeling among the leaders.