วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 20 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2553

Premier League:Bayern Munich spirits are soaring


Bayern Munich arrived in Madrid in high spirits ahead of their Champions League final against Inter Milan on Saturday.

Winger Arjen Robben and his team-mates are focused on achieving the treble of domestic league and cup and Champions League - a feat no German club has ever achieved.

"The atmosphere in the team is very good," said Robben, whose decisive goals against Fiorentina and Manchester United made a major contribution to the Bavarians reaching the final for the first time since 2001.

"We are all very happy and proud to be here.

"We have a great chance to write history."

However, former Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has warned the Bavarians not to lower their guard heading into the final.

Kahn was a member of the Bayern side that lifted the trophy in 2001 and he knows exactly what it takes to win the title.

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But the former Germany number one also was in the Bayern side which lost dramatically to Manchester United in the final two years earlier, so he can also recall what it feels like to lose a Champions League final.

"You don't win a Champions League final because you have a good team spirit, you only manage this triumph with maximum concentration," he wrote in today's Kicker magazine.

"The double has given Bayern self-confidence, but they must now ensure they don't let the tension drop even a millimetre."

Kahn cannot pick between the two sides and rates the chances of Bayern lifting the title as "50:50", but the 40-year-old insists he will be "keeping my fingers crossed for Bayern" who he says have made phenomenal progress under coach Louis van Gaal this season.

"Winning the Champions League would crown what is already a successful season for FC Bayern," he said.

"It is remarkable how Louis Van Gaal has managed to form a homogeneous, technically and physically strong team.

"And he has done that with players like (Thomas) Muller or (Holger) Badstuber who hardly anybody knew before the start of the season."

Muller was a regular in Bayern's reserve team last season having picked up only a handful of minutes in the first team under Van Gaal's predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann.

He has certainly come of age, as has Badstuber, in a season which has seen the entire Bayern squad develop individually and as a unit, and the 20-year-old spoke with the experience of Kahn when he arrived in the club's hotel today.

"We are totally focused and know what is coming," Muller said. "I don't get the feeling that anybody is nervous.

"The nerves will arrive in the dressing room on Saturday. At the moment, nothing can disturb me.

"In any case, we are not only playing to be successful, we are playing because we enjoy it."

And Van Gaal will definitely enjoy walking out in the Stadio Santiago Bernabeu - the home of his former bitter rivals Real Madrid.

"The final in the Estadio Bernabeu is also something special for me," he said. "I was once manager of Barcelona after all."

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