Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will have a spicy duel against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, but coach Vincent Kompany believes his players have shown they are ready for games like this.
“We have enough experience. The players have shown they can handle games like this. We want to win. The best players need to be ready for the game,” Kompany said in a news conference on Friday.
Bayern are coming off a important Champions League win against Paris Saint-Germain, but they lost their last match against Dortmund – their first defeat to the top Bundesliga opponents since 2019.
“I want to win the game tomorrow and perform. I like that it’s important to give these games a special build-up,” Kompany said.
Kompany took the job at Bayern at the start of the season, replacing Thomas Tuchel. Dortmund, meanwhile, also brought in a young coach in their former player Nuri Sahin.
“New coaches bring creativity, but it’s also important to have experience. This job is very intense. Experience comes quickly. We all started somewhere,” Kompany said.
The coach added that midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic still won’t be available.
“Things are going well with Pavlo, but he won’t be involved before the Heidenheim game. If he has a good week of training, maybe he’ll be there against Heidenheim (on December 7),” he said.
Against PSG, Bayern claimed their seventh victory with a clean sheet in a row across all competitions since a 4-1 meltdown at Barcelona.
Sporting director Christoph Freund said that “things feel good right now” but that “there’s always disquiet at Bayern when you don’t win any titles.”
“We have good energy, everyone’s pulling in the same direction. We can feel that within and are embodying it as well. Vincent has played a big part in that,” he said.
