The top game has been won, but the championship is still a long way off. That’s why Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann now formulated a clear target.
The final phase of this first leg is underway. With last week’s 3-2 win in Dortmund, FC Bayern secured a four-point lead at the top of the table – for now. And “we want to maintain this gap “, says coach Julian Nagelsmann, because “we have it in our own hands”. This means that three more victories are a must, provided the team does not want to rely on the competition.
The Bavarians want to start this on Saturday against Mainz 05, the zero-fivers who once put the Munich team under a lot of pressure last season with a 2-0 lead (in the end it was 5:2 for Bayern) – and still won 2-1 in the second game. The team of Chef-Coach Nagelsmann is therefore warned. Especially as the Rheinhessen side, in seventh place, are playing a good season. And they are particularly dangerous on the counterattack, one of Bayern’s weaknesses. The Mainz side have already scored ten goals this way in the current season.
Tolisso and Musiala on the double six
In this point, it is the midfield centre that will be challenged. Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka are out. As against Barcelona, Corentin Tolisso and Jamal Musiala will have to play again. Otherwise, Nagelsmann sees little reason for personnel changes. There are no real signs of fatigue. “The players are in a good mood,” says the 34-year-old: “The mood was also good in the dressing room.” This is “an indication” that the Munich team still has enough strength in its legs towards the end of the year.
In general, says Nagelsmann, “we have mastered the often quoted, complicated autumn quite well “ Although there were some difficult phases – also because of COVID-19 and the associated quarantine measures – “we got through very well “, knows the coach, who also considers no rotation necessary in view of this. “We had already had one or two absences due to the workload anyway,” he notes. See Goretzka and Serge Gnabry. The latter, at any rate, will be there on Saturday – when it comes to taking the first of three final steps this year.
