Bayern Munich are keeping busy. Twin dates against SC Freiburg this week (Tuesday in the DFB-Pokal, Saturday in the Bundesliga) will be followed by next Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-finals first leg at Manchester City. It’s a hectic start to life in the Thomas Tuchel era.
The new head coach previewed the upcoming Freiburg fixture at his pre-game press conference, as captured by @iMiaSanMia.
“We have a difficult game ahead of us,” Tuchel said. “It’s knockout game that we really want to win. Freiburg is a club that acts as a unit, we’ve seen that over several years.”
Thomas Tuchel previews Bayern Munich’s DFB-Pokal quarter-final vs. SC Freiburg
Bayern are now in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal, having not won since 2019/20. “The DFB-Pokal is a huge competition,” Tuchel added. “The final in Berlin is a big event and we want to be there.”
In terms of availability, a number of important players might miss out. Tuchel gave updates on Noussair Mazraoui (illness for the past two days, missed training), Mathys Tel (rehab) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (missed training due to “a knock”). “As of now, [Choupo] can play tomorrow,” Tuchel said, though the status of the other two are less clear.
Thomas Tuchel previews Bayern Munich’s DFB-Pokal quarter-final vs. SC Freiburg
“We have so many important games where we need everyone. It’s important that there are fixed automatisms. It’s also important to have leaders on the pitch, especially during a bit of a turbulent time,” Tuchel summarized. “There were a few tough decisions because we had to decide after a day and a half of training. Now the race is on. We’ll need every player. Nothing has been decided in the Bundesliga, we have to keep delivering.”
Bayern Munich are keeping busy. Twin dates against SC Freiburg this week (Tuesday in the DFB-Pokal, Saturday in the Bundesliga) will be followed by next Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-finals first leg at Manchester City. It’s a hectic start to life in the Thomas Tuchel era.
The new head coach previewed the upcoming Freiburg fixture at his pre-game press conference, as captured by @iMiaSanMia.
“We have a difficult game ahead of us,” Tuchel said. “It’s knockout game that we really want to win. Freiburg is a club that acts as a unit, we’ve seen that over several years.”
Bayern are now in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal, having not won since 2019/20. “The DFB-Pokal is a huge competition,” Tuchel added. “The final in Berlin is a big event and we want to be there.”
In terms of availability, a number of important players might miss out. Tuchel gave updates on Noussair Mazraoui (illness for the past two days, missed training), Mathys Tel (rehab) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (missed training due to “a knock”). “As of now, [Choupo] can play tomorrow,” Tuchel said, though the status of the other two are less clear.
“We have so many important games where we need everyone. It’s important that there are fixed automatisms. It’s also important to have leaders on the pitch, especially during a bit of a turbulent time,” Tuchel summarized. “There were a few tough decisions because we had to decide after a day and a half of training. Now the race is on. We’ll need every player. Nothing has been decided in the Bundesliga, we have to keep delivering.”
Bayern to make shock bid for Hojlund? (Manchester Evening News)
Imagine whiffing out on a can’t miss Scandinavian center-forward last summer, only to take a run at the next “hot name” from the region in the summer of 2023.
It couldn’t be Bayern Munich, could it?
Well, maybe — at least per a report captured by the Manchester Evening News. MEN’s story (which was captured from a report in Italy) says that Bayern Munich could make a surprise bid for Atalanta attacker Rasmus Hojlund:
Newcastle and Arsenal are also said to be interested in the attacker. However, Atalanta are preparing to fight to keep their man in the hope of persuading him to continue his development for another season ahead of a bigger money sale next year, potentially in the region of £70m.
This would certainly be a shocking move for Bayern Munich and observers should be more than a little bit skeptical of just really how interested in Hojlund the Bavarians might be.
For those who might have gotten a little excited over the potential move, Sky Sport’s Florian Plettenberg really wants you to temper your expectations: