Anyone who wants to approach FC Bayern Munich these days will drive past luxury and lawns. Magnificent villas are clustered along the roadsides, and golf courses meander between, behind or in front of these houses. “The best in Europe,” as it says on a sign in the middle of the Portuguese holiday resort Quinta do Lago west of Faro. Not far behind the sign you come to a training complex, the record champions’ bus is right in front of it.
There are hardly any fans here, even when head coach Thomas Tuchel plays a game of padel tennis with his coaching team, almost no one watches despite the mild temperatures. The conditions for a short escape from the German winter seem ideal. Only the sun doesn’t cooperate. It does show itself to the people of Munich from time to time in the Algarve. But not only when newcomer Eric Dier receives a serenade from his colleagues on his 30th birthday, she hides behind gray clouds.
Mukiele a candidate?
Bayern will be preparing for the start of the second half of the Bundesliga season in Portugal until Thursday. Passing exercises and intensive forms of play were initially on the agenda, and of course it was also about the quick integration of Dier. The only thing the Munich team is still missing is the desired right-back in Portugal. Sports director Christoph Freund stayed in Munich in order to finalize this personnel as quickly as possible. Ex-Leipzig player Nordi Mukiele from Paris Saint-Germain is said to be a candidate.
These are once again moving days for Bayern, even if there is little to suggest that given the calm in the Algarve. The emotional farewell to club legend Franz Beckenbauer before the 3-0 win against TSG Hoffenheim last Friday touched not only many people in the club. Added to this is the difficult search for reinforcements on the winter transfer market. And then the news finally leaked out that Max Eberl would soon return to his youth club as sports director. In Portugal you can feel none of this.
There is a lot of laughter at the training facility in the golf complex, superstar Harry Kane hardly leaves his English friend Dier’s side. Tuchel knows his way around here; in 2020 he spent a few days here with his former club Paris Saint-Germain. The 50-year-old comes to the pitch on his bike and jokes with his assistant coaches, while on the other hand he follows his players’ sessions with great concentration and loudly gives instructions. The only downside initially remained that defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano were apparently injured during training.
Foundation stone for attack on the championship
These are rare insights into the record champions’ training sessions; in Munich, Bayern almost always train behind closed doors. The units should now lay the foundation for the attack on the next championship. Before the start of the second half of the season on Sunday against Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen is still four points ahead of FCB, although Bayern have played one game less.
The top game will take place in Leverkusen on February 10th. They want to arrive there in a good position to at least overtake Leverkusen in the game, Tuchel told ESPN FC in an interview. “That’s why we have to do our homework now,” he added. “But the situation is also clear: We have everything to lose. You can gain everything.” Portugal should be the basis to ensure that this doesn’t happen. The conditions could hardly be better.
