05 Jan 2020
Doha, 5 January 2020. For the tenth time in total, the German record champions FC Bayern Munich is preparing for part two of the Bundesliga campaign in Doha, laying the foundations for a successful second half of the season. From January 4 to 10, Bayern coach Hansi Flick has the opportunity on the spacious grounds of the Aspire Academy to ensure his squad achieves the "optimal level of fitness required for three competitions." It'll be the first-ever trip to Doha for the 54-year-old, who promised "an intensive, tough training camp."
With a total of 26 players, Flick and his coaching staff is working in Doha until 10 January. However, four players from the pro squad were not able to make the trip to the country that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup: In addition to long-term absentee Niklas Süle (torn cruciate ligament), Javi Martínez (muscle injury), Robert Lewandowski (groin surgery) and Kingsley Coman (torn capsule in the left knee) are also out of action.
Following ankle surgery, World Cup winner Lucas Hernández continues to work on his comeback in Doha and he's already penned-in to complete parts of the team training. Michaël Cuisance and Fiete Arp are also back after recovering from their injuries. The training squad is complemented by six young talents: Joshua Zirkzee, Sarpreet Singh, Leon Dajaku, Oliver Batista-Meier and Chris Richards from the reserves and U-19 defender Bright Akwo Arrey-Mbi.
In between matches it's often "not possible to train very much" so the focus is more on "a few things that are important for the next game". A period of preparation is therefore "enormously important for a team because you can work better on particular moves," emphasised Flick before his first training camp as the boss.
Last year, the winter camp at Aspire served as a foundation for a strong second half of the season, which saw the German record champions win the league-cup double for the twelfth time in the club's history. In the Bundesliga, Bayern were six points off top spot a year ago - this time round they are just four points behind league leaders RB Leipzig. With three wins on the bounce to end 2019, the side from Bavaria have kept pace with the leaders and currently lie third, leading Manuel Neuer to announce after the last home game that the side "will continue to attack in the second half of the season" and "leapfrog [Leipzig and Gladbach] into first place."
The fact that Bayern have to do without four players in their preparations is no issue, according to sporting director Hasan Salihamidžic, and instead offers younger players in the 26-man squad the opportunity to prove their value. "If you train really well, do everything you can to give yourself the chance for a shot at the first team, then everyone gets their opportunity," explained the 43-year-old. The example of 18-year-old Joshua Zirkzee, who scored his first two Bundesliga goals just before Christmas, made the sporting director "optimistic that everyone will be able to give a good account of himself in front of the head coach".
"We'll do everything we can during the training camp to prepare well and to give ourselves the best shot of going full throttle from the very first game," the sporting director said. He also re-emphasised before the side left for Doha that the players would be met with "very, very good conditions" at their disposal at the Aspire Academy, helping the team work on some fine tuning before the second half of the campaign.
Apart from Bayern Munich’s men's (January 4 to 11) and women's teams (January 20 to 26), PSV Eindhoven (January 4 to 12), Club Brugge (January 4 to 12), KAS Eupen (January 7 to 14), FC Zenit (January 13 to 25) and FC Red Bull Salzburg (January 16 to 26) also hold their training camps at Aspire this year.