Bayern Munich: Leon Goretzka optimistic about second half of the season
Leon Goretzka is confident that Bayern Munich can retain the Bundesliga title and go deep in the Champions League.
Bayern Munich had a testing first half of the season. There was no consistency in their performances as they often dropped points in the Bundesliga. Niko Kovac left the club due to the poor results, and Hansi Flick was appointed as the caretaker manager to steady the ship.
Since Flick’s arrival results have improved, but they did suffer a couple of defeats against Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. The defending Bundesliga champions ended the year in the third position, four points behind league leaders RB Leipzig.
In the cup competitions, Bayern has been performing much better. They cruised through their group and won all the six games, including two wins against Tottenham Hotspurs. In DFB Pokal, they had to work hard for wins, but they managed to seal their place in the next round of the competition.
Leon Goretzka is optimistic about the second half of the season. The German midfielder told Spox that Bayern would remain in contention for the Bundesliga title till the end. He also expects Die Roten to do well against Chelsea in the round of 16 ties in the Champions League.
"“I don’t think Leipzig wins every game in the second half of the season. We have to get our points and do our job. I think it’s realistic that we can do it.”“We want to go further than last year when we got the future winner immediately in the round of 16. I was very happy about the lot. Chelsea is one attractive opponent. We are confident that we can do it.”"
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Goretzka will play a crucial role for Bayern in all competitions. It has been a start-stop season for him due to injuries. Rekordmeister have missed his goals from midfield. If he manages to get back to his best in the next few weeks, then Die Roten will be much more potent against teams that defend deep.
The Bundesliga title race will be interesting this season as there are more competitors. Bayern were in a much worse state in the table last season, nine points behind Borussia Dortmund. They stitched a long run of wins and were supported well by Dortmund’s poor run of form to clinch the title on the final day.
Flick will have to make sure that Die Roten starts finding a certain level of consistency in their performances to retain the domestic competitions. They will have to dig deep in some games to get the results, but in the long run, that cannot be sustainable.
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In Europe, Bayern have got a good draw against Chelsea, but they cannot afford to be complacent against them. Flick will have to be more tactical astute to go deep in the competition. Bayern is not the firm favourites for the CL trophy, but they have the players in their squad that can cause problems for any team on their day. A domestic double and a deep run in Europe will surely exceed Bayern’s expectations considering the problems they faced in the first half of the season.