adminHaving won all six of their low-key pre-season friendlies so far, Bayern face tougher tests at this weekend’s Telekom Cup at Borussia Moenchengladbach’s ground where the hosts, Hamburg and main Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund are involved.
Bayern could meet Dortmund in tomorrow’s final in a repeat of the Champions League showpiece at Wembley in May when the Bavarians ran out 2-1 winners, before welcoming Barcelona in a friendly at Munich’s Allianz Arena next Wednesday.
“It will be two important test matches for us and we want to win the competition, that is always the same for us,” said midfielder Toni Kroos ahead of the Telekom Cup.
Following an extended post-Confederations Cup break, Bayern welcomed back their trio of Spain’s Javi Martinez, plus Brazil’s Dante and Luis Gustavo, who has been linked to a move to VfL Wolfsburg, to training this week.
The next seven days will be a big test for Guardiola’s new system, while new-signing Thiago Alcantara is set to make his debut since joining from Barcelona. The 42-year-old Guardiola took charge on June 24, insisting he would adapt “100 percent” to the players and promising to change “only a few little things” before whisking the team away to their pre-season training camp in north Italy.
Four weeks later and Guardiola has switched up key positions and introduced a new 4-1-4-1 system.
Captain Philipp Lahm, a Bayern institute at right-back, now finds himself in a midfield role while France winger Franck Ribery has been moved up front into the “false nine” role Lionel Messi occupies at Barcelona.
“A little weird” is how Ribery described the new system and although Lahm said Guardiola “has not reinvented football”, the ex-Barcelona boss, who won 14 titles in four years at the Camp Nou, has certainly reinvented Bayern. —AFP.
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