Officials optimistic
Rummenigge: It's back in our own hands
19.04.2011
The future was the focus at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. Bayern’s new red-and-gold home kit was ceremonially unveiled, and the extension of the club’s partnership with adidas until 2020 formally announced. Rounding off the event, adidas chairman Herbert Hainer quipped that the current campaign had merely been “a warm-up for next season’s Champions League, when the final takes place here in Munich.”
Bayern will naturally do everything in the club’s power to contest the final match in the world’s leading club competition when the trophy is presented at their home ground in May 2012. Of course, for that possibility to remain open, FCB will have to qualify for next term’s Champions League. The situation in that respect is much more encouraging since Munich reclaimed third spot in the Bundesliga last Sunday.
Call for consistency
“We’re where we need to be now,” Uli Hoeneß noted, “Hannover have to chase us, and we can stop permanently checking on how Hannover have got on.” Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is equally pleased that Bayern have edged ahead of their rivals for third spot. “The whole thing’s back in our own hands now,” the chairman commented.
Sunday’s 5-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen “was one of our best performances of the season,” Rummenigge continued. “It was evident that the team has plenty of character and desire.” The chairman called for the same approach in the remaining games of the season. “We have to keep it up, against Frankfurt, against Schalke, against St. Pauli and against Stuttgart.”
Stern test in Frankfurt
The first test of Bayern’s credentials comes this Saturday at 3.30 pm away to Eintracht Frankfurt, who lie 15th and are fighting a rearguard battle against relegation. “Frankfurt have their backs to the wall. We know we’re about to face a team who’ll do whatever it takes to earn at least a point,” Rummenigge advised.
No-one at the club has forgotten the corresponding fixture last season. “We were a goal up but lost 2-1 right at the end,” recalled Rummenigge, “we’ve been warned.” The chairman is convinced there will be no such slip-up at the weekend: “If the players are as focused and determined as on Sunday, knocking us off third place won’t be so easy.”
Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)
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