Guardiola: "I have no doubts about Schweinsteiger"

The champions will get the new season underway tonight (starting at 20.30 CET, live on ARD and Sky) as Bayern Munich welcome Borussia Mönchengladbach to the Allianz Arena. Ahead of the match, FCB’s new coach Pep Guardiola spoke about his league debut, his meeting with national coach Joachim Löw and the approach he is taking in Munich.

Question: Mr Guardiola, how fit are your team ahead of their opening Bundesliga match against Borussia Mönchengladbach?

Pep Guardiola: The team are in good shape. You always have an idea of what you’re capable of before each match, but what’s most important is what happens from 20.30 onwards. Our entire pre-season was exceptional.

Question: How are you feeling about your first Bundesliga match?

Guardiola: I’m looking forward to it, it’s a great feeling for me.

Question: Are you nervous at all?

Guardiola: No, absolutely not.

Question: How do you rate Mönchengladbach?

Guardiola: Borussia Mönchengladbach are one of the best teams in the Bundesliga, they have a great pedigree. They’ve had the same coach for many years. They have a very good work-rate and are immaculate in defence. They’re very strong on the counter-attack. They’re also very, very well organised. And the players also know what happened here two years ago (Editor’s note: a 1-0 Borussia win). My assistant coach Hermann Gerland gives me such good advice. He’s told me that Borussia Mönchengladbach are always very dangerous opponents for Bayern. We have to forget what happened in the Telekom Cup (Editor’s note: Bayern won the final of the pre-season tournament 5-1 after two 30-minute halves). I’m sure it will be a very, very, very tricky game.

Question: What will your tactics be against Mönchengladbach?

Guardiola: The tactic will be to play as well as possible, to tell the players to play freely and forget what the coach has said, to just go out there and have fun. And to defend as a unit and support each other when Borussia have the ball.

Question: Lucien Favre, your opposite number at Gladbach, said that he has an idea about how to stop your team. Do you think he can do it?

Guardiola: Yes, of course. I think he’ll be able to do well against us. I’ve got so much respect for this coach. When you look at a team, sooner or later you realise whether or not there’s a good coach behind that team, and I’m certain there’s a fantastic coach behind this one.

Question: How is your team looking after pre-season?

Guardiola: It’s hard for me to assess the team in percentage terms. Compared to last season we’re in transition, but we had a good pre-season even though we would like to have won the Supercup against Borussia Dortmund (Editor’s note: Bayern lost 4-2 in Dortmund) too, of course. But that was a one-off game. To me, what’s most important is that when I look at my players, I can see they’re happy, they understand me and are behind me. So far I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen. I think we’re ready.

Question: Why aren’t you going to a hotel the night before a match, as Bayern usually do?

Guardiola: I don’t like my team to spend so much time in hotels: waiting around until 20.30 [the next day] is too long. I prefer the players to stay with their families, with their children, in their own houses. On Friday we’ll meet up, do a bit of light running and do some video analysis. After that, we’ll go to a hotel at 13.30 and still have time to relax in our rooms. But when we play matches at 15.30, we’ll still spend the previous night in a hotel.

Question: You’ve changed the team around a lot so far. Will we see the definitive starting line-up tomorrow?

Guardiola: No. I’ve still got to fully get to know the players. We’ve had a lot of injured players and others that had to join training later, like Javi Martínez. Bastian Schweinsteiger hasn’t trained much; neither have Mario Götze and Dante. We need more time for them. And we had so many friendlies that we had to organise ourselves as well as we could. But I’ve got an idea of the squad for the match against Gladbach.

Question: Bastian Schweinsteiger hasn’t been picked for the international against Paraguay in Kaiserslautern next Wednesday (Editor’s note: live on ZDF from 20.45 CET). Did you discuss this with national coach Joachim Löw when you met him on Wednesday?

Guardiola: It was a pleasure for me to meet Joachim Löw. It was very nice indeed, very civilized; I’m glad he came. We talked about all kinds of things, one of which was Bastian and his state of fitness, of course. We have no doubts about his quality. He’s one of the best players in the world. But he was injured for over a month; he needs time to get back to full fitness.

Question: Who do you think will be European Footballer of the Year?

Guardiola: That’s tough; all three are exceptional. Of course, I’m glad Lionel Messi is nominated. He has been the most important player in my career. Naturally, I’m hoping for the best for Franck Ribéry, he has been outstanding, not just last season but for almost the entire time he has been at FC Bayern. Cristiano Ronaldo has also played unbelievably well for the past few years. All three of them deserve it. I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision.

Question: Are you concerned about the huge weight of expectation currently on your shoulders?

Guardiola: First of all, it’s important to say this: I’m not the best coach in the world. I was the coach of one of the best teams in the world, FC Barcelona. We were very good for a long, long time, but a coach depends on his players. The most important thing is not how good I am but how I convey my ideas. I like to win over my players, to help develop their qualities. That’s my aim; that’s why I’m here. Of course, I knew before I arrived that I have to win here, and of course I want to win too. But titles are titles. You can win titles at the big clubs. There are lots of extremely good coaches at small teams, but they don’t have Ribéry, Schweinsteiger or Messi. The players are the most important factor, and if one of them comes to me after three or four years and says, “You helped me a lot”, then that’s the best accolade for me. Cups are good for a day, but then they sit in a display cabinet.

Question: Is Mario Götze likely to feature in the friendly in Györ on Sunday?

Guardiola: Yes, I think so. We’ve spoken about it already. It won’t be for very long, but Mario will play for a few minutes.

Question: Is your Bundesliga debut a big occasion for you?

Guardiola: Of course. I’m not nervous today, but of course I’ll be a little nervous just before the match.

Question: What do you do when you’re nervous?

Guardiola: I stay in my room, think about what might happen during the game and try to think of solutions for if we’re not playing well. I speak with my assistants and players, drink some water. That’s about it.

Recorded by DFB.de..