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Pep Guardiola wants Bayern Munich to learn from their mid-week Champions League defeat at Manchester City to help strengthen their iron grip on the Bundesliga at Hertha Berlin today. |
Bayern have a seven-point lead at the top of the table, but are licking the wounds from their first defeat in 22 games on Tuesday although they had already made the last 16 in Europe as group winners.
“It’s good that it’s happened and maybe there’s a lesson in it for us,” said Guardiola. “If it happens in the Round of 16 or the quarter-finals, you’re out, so we have to learn from this.”
Defender Jerome Boateng has insisted Bayern will bounce back in his home city of Berlin. Mid-table Hertha have shown little to cast doubt on that having only won four of their last 10 games.
Bayern have good memories of the Olympic Stadium as their 3-1 win there in March saw them claim last season’s title with a record seven games to spare. Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is set to be named on the bench again having made brief appearances against Hoffenheim last weekend and City following a knee strain which had sidelined him since July’s World Cup final.
There promises to be a battle royal in the pack chasing Bayern as second-placed Wolfsburg host third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach with both sides looking to bounce back from respective league defeats last weekend to Schalke and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Gladbach will be without suspended Swiss defensive midfielder Granit Xhaka, who was sent off against Frankfurt.
Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund are at mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow looking to escape the bottom three having lost seven of their 12 opening league games.
They will be looking for a much needed confidence booster after their Champions League defeat at Arsenal.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp is down to his second-choice centre-back pairing of Neven Subotic and Matthias Ginter with Mats Hummels and Sokratis Papastathopoulos both recovering from a sprained ankle and calf injury respectively.
Fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen host neighbours Cologne in the Rhine derby having reached the Champions League last 16 despite losing 1-0 at home to Monaco on Wednesday.
