Berlin: Bayern Munich will not be spending too much time celebrating their consecutive wins in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League, with Borussia Dortmund awaiting on Saturday.
The German champions beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in the league last week and then fired five goals past Viktoria Plzen in Tuesday’s Champions League win that kept them top of Group C.
Friday’s win over Leverkusen ended their longest winless run in the league in 20 years, four games, and offered coach Julian Nagelsmann some respite. Their victory over Plzen was even more one-sided.
Curve going up further
“It was a dominant performance of the team against Plzen,” Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn said on social media. “But despite the extent of the victory we should not overrate it.
“After our weekend performance (against Leverkusen) the curve has now gone further upward but against Dortmund we must again deliver another top performance.” While the Bavarians have won all three of their Champions League group matches so far, they have been far less convincing in the league, sitting in third place, two points behind leaders Union Berlin and Freiburg.
Victory over league rivals Dortmund could put them back on top while also boosting their newfound confidence.
“These were difficult weeks for us and our reaction has been good,” said Bayern’s Sadio Mane, who scored in both matches. “Now we have to push this through until the end of the season.”
Extremely frustrated
Dortmund, however, are also on 15 in fourth place and will be eyeing their own chance to go top after the weekend matches.
“Normally we have the demand not having to be poked to deliver a good performance,” Bayern midfielder Leon Goretzka said.
“We are still extremely frustrated with the matches (we failed to win) and we should not start celebrating these results now.
“We should not read too much into them but we are on a good track.” After their trip to Dortmund, Bayern will again be on the road next week with their Champions League match at Plzen.
