London: Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are bitter rivals, yet in tactical terms they offer variations on the same theme. Both press their opponents high up the pitch, can move the ball from defence to attack with bewildering speed and play with a 4-2-3-1 formation featuring wide players on each flank and a lone striker. Dortmund, however, are more lightweight and lean towards a more counter-attacking style.
One of coach Juergen Klopp's training exercises involves setting his players a target of eight seconds between winning possession of the ball in their own half and having a shot on goal. Pressing their opponents is a key to Dortmund's style, so much so Klopp once described it as "the best playmaker a team can have". Yet, even Klopp has realised that you can have too much of a good thing.
He admitted his team tried to do too much in the Champions League last season, when they pressed their opponents relentlessly and dominated matches only to finish bottom of their group behind Olympiakos, Arsenal and Olympique Marseille. This season, Dortmund have pressed in shorter bursts, yielded possession to their opponents, yet have been ruthless in the counter-attack and finishing.
The addition of the lithe Marco Reus on the left flank has been fundamental to the new approach. "I have learned a statistic," Klopp told uefa.com. "Teams that run too much lose, and teams that press reduce their chances of winning the game. Now I know why
11:40 AM, May 23, 2013
Berlin: Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes will sit on the coaching bench for a Bundesliga game for the last time when the champions meet his former club Borussia Moenchengladbach in the season finale on Saturday, and hinted on Monday that he might retire. The 68-year-old, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1998 and had a long playing and coaching career at Gladbach, will make way for Pep...
05:10 PM, May 14, 2013
Barcelona: Bayern Munich began to lay the foundations for this season's impressive run to the Champions League final immediately after their defeat to Chelsea in last year's showpiece, coach Jupp Heynckes said on Wednesday. After Bayern inflicted the biggest aggregate defeat on Barcelona in European competition, a jubilant Heynckes said the painful reverse on penalties to Chelsea at their own Allianz Arena in Munich had given him the motivation to...
08:41 AM, May 02, 2013
You aren't a journalist if you don't speculate. So what if the speculation is about the world coming to an end after watching the world's best football club capitulate in a manner that might even shame the German defeat at Stalingrad? As sports fans and observers, we are often prone to hyperbole, but that may be excused if the matter up for debate is whether modern football's most decorated and...
04:53 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Munich: Bayern Munich's 4-0 rout of Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday was partly down to two goals that should have been chalked off, said assistant coach Jordi Roura. Mario Gomez looked marginally offside when he turned in Thomas Mueller's header from close range for the second goal in the 49th minute. The two-goal Mueller also appeared to obstruct Jordi Alba when the full back attempted...
09:35 AM, Apr 24, 2013
Pep Guardiola is not the only connection between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who meet in their Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. Both teams are dominating their leagues to an almost embarrassing extent, have won the Champions League four times apiece, share an acrimonious rivalry with Real Madrid, and owe part of their success to the flamboyant Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Both have also been...
06:27 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Munich: Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes compared Lionel Messi to some of football greatest players. "He is a phenomenon. He is in the league of Zinedine Zidane, Diego Maradona, Pele and Johan Cruyff," Heynckes said Wednedsay. "Anyone who scores 50 goals in a season is extra-terrestrial." Bayern will come up against Messi when it plays Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday in Munich. Bayern director Matthias Sammer also...
11:46 PM, Apr 17, 2013
Berlin: Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes said he will not ask former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola for advice ahead of their Champions League semi-final with the Spanish giants. Guardiola will take over from Heynckes at the German champions next season, having led Barcelona to 14 trophies in four seasons before taking time out and signing for Bayern earlier this year. "Respect me and my work," Heynckes curtly told reporters on...
11:18 PM, Apr 12, 2013
Goals from Oliver Giroud in the 3rd minute and Laurent Koscielny in the 86th helped Arsenal beat Bayern Munich 2-0. ...
03:18 AM, Mar 14, 2013
Oliver Giroud's 3rd minute strike helped Arsenal take a 1-0 lead at half-time over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. ...
02:07 AM, Mar 14, 2013
The 67-year-old Heynckes said he would retire in May with Pep Guardiola taking over from next season as Bayern coach. ...
05:16 PM, Jan 17, 2013
With a four-week winter break starting next week, the Bavarians are eager to consolidate their 11-point lead going into the holidays. ...
05:06 PM, Dec 13, 2012
Munich: Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has issued a plea ahead of Saturday's Champions League final against Chelsea: No more penalties please.Bayern won a penalty shootout to eliminate Real Madrid in the semifinals and did the same in the German Cup semis against Borussia Moenchengladbach. Heynckes joked on Friday that a third shootout would be too much to suffer through at age 67, although German sides traditionally have a good...
10:04 AM, May 19, 2012
