Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany remembers his team’s 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen well.
The manager is hoping for a different result (and a chance to advance in the DFB-Pokal), but is also unsure on how Bayer Leverkusen will approach the match.
“We’ve played against almost every team in the league. Leverkusen’s squad is among the best. They have very good strikers. They can defend deep and did that against us in the league meeting. I don’t know if they’ll approach things in the same way this time. I hope we can play to our strengths tomorrow and focus on ourselves, regardless of how Leverkusen play,” said Kompany (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Kompany is well aware that many are pitting this as a contest between two of the brightest, young coaches in Europe. The coach touched why their respective backgrounds have probably formed their coaching ideas differently.
“There are two paths: you were a player and then become a coach or you decide early on to become a coach. You can’t underestimate the amount of work you have to do to make the transition from player to coach. The time management is completely different. I’ve tried to use a lot of software, analyse games and stay authentic. The result of being here is the result of hard work. I benefit from my experience as a leader as a player. Everyone has to start at some point. But the most important thing is hard work,” saids Kompany. “As a player, I was far away from Xabi Alonso on the pitch because I was a defender. As a player, he always found his teammates with passes, no matter how far away, he had an incredible passing range . But now we are coaches and we live for this job.
“Against Dortmund, it was against Nuri Şahin, now it’s against Xabi Alonso. I think he will transfer his experience to his players because he knows the game. You can look at the last ten, 15 games against Leverkusen. They are a team that can press really high. They play very aggressively, very compactly. In the first half of the season they were very compact and very flexible in their system. They are very variable. We have to be attentive and bring our strengths onto the pitch.”
Kompany enjoyed Bayern Munich’s holiday party, noting that it was good to experience a little down time during a hectic stretch.
“We don’t have many days off. Yesterday was very nice, we had a great party, including with all the families. We are like a family, and we want to live that way. We forgot about the game for a bit, but then got straight back to work,” Kompany noted.
Finally, Kompany touched on Harry Kane’s absence and what it means for team, while also provide a scant bit of information on Serge Gnabry, who missed the draw vs. Borussia Dortmund due to a knee issue .
”You can’t replace him one-to-one, he’s a top player. But we’ll solve it differently, we won’t be lacking talent tomorrow. We have options who can play in the position, Thomas Müller, Mathys Tel, Gnabry, Michael Olise, Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala. These are players who have goals in them. As I said, you can’t replace Harry’s goals one to one, but we have options,” said Kompany. “It’s always difficult to say. There’s a chance he will play again this year. But he’ll miss a few games. We will have to wait and see in the final training session (on Gnabry), we will have to wait until the last few hours before the game.”
Looking for an extended breakdown of Bayern Munich’s DFB-Pokal showdown with Bayer Leverkusen? Then check out our latest Bavarian Podcast Works Show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
