Mission “Finale”
Mass rush to FC Bayern
Updated on January 3, 2025 – 2:42 p.mReading time: 2 min.
FC Bayern is facing hot weeks in every respect. The goal is a special title in May.
There was a lot of activity in front of the FC Bayern training ground on Friday: More than 2,000 fans gathered on Säbener Straße to take a look at Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich and the rest of the team at the first public training session of the year. The spectators enthusiastically celebrated the stars of the German record champions. However, the players themselves and coach Vincent Kompany focused entirely on the intensive session – after all, there is a demanding second half of the season ahead.
Club icon Thomas Müller formulated the goal for the year unequivocally: “The championship trophy has to go back to Munich. And then there would be the Champions League final at home… You already know where the journey should go,” he wrote in his newsletter. CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen added that this year we are not just talking about the “finale at home” but also about the “title at home”.
However, Kompany urged prudence: In the club magazine 51 he emphasized that although they would give everything to achieve their big goals, they had to approach the second half of the season step by step. FC Bayern had already resumed training on Thursday after a short winter break of eleven days. Some recently injured players returned with Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman, Josip Stanišić and Serge Gnabry. However, João Palhinha, Hiroki Itō and Sacha Boey are still unavailable.
A training camp in warmer climates is not planned this year – the schedule does not allow this. Borussia Mönchengladbach will be the first opponent in the Bundesliga on January 11th. This is followed by a tightly packed program of five games in just 18 days, including the final two games of the Champions League group stage against Feyenoord Rotterdam and Slovan Bratislava.
In addition to the sporting challenges, sports director Max Eberl focuses on important personnel issues. It is important to clarify the contracts of top performers such as Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies, Leroy Sané, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer. Eberl spoke of a “time of decisions” and emphasized that he and sports director Christoph Freund had already done intensive preparatory work. It is now a matter of reaching final agreements in the coming weeks.