Hertha BSC Berlin vs Bayern Munich preview - Guardiola: Bayern squad stretched

Posted Friday, November 28, 2014 by PA

Bayern Munich travel to Berlin on Saturday for what they hope will be the first of three trips there this season, aware this first visit is going to be tough enough.

With the final of the DFB-Pokal and Champions League both being staged in the Olympiastadion this season, Bayern know if Saturday's trip to the capital is not their last, they will be celebrating another successful season in June.

However, their coach Pep Guardiola is only focusing on this weekend's game against Hertha Berlin which he believes will be complicated in view of the number of players he cannot select.

"We've only got one left and one right full-back left," said Guardiola, who is currently without Philipp Lahm and David Alaba due to injury.

"The problem with the size of the squad is that it's getting harder and harder to rotate."

Added to the general tiredness at playing a game almost every midweek, Bayern played much of Tuesday's 3-2 defeat to Manchester City with only 10 men following an early red card to Mehdi Benatia.

What that game did teach the Catalan, thought, is that his team are capable of coping with adversity.

"We lost, but I'm proud of the team," he said. "We played well and I liked the way we fought - that is what I always want to see.

"That's what we've got to do in the Bundesliga too. I wouldn't say the league's boring because we've got to fight hard to win our games."

Hertha are the next to try to put the runaway league leaders to the test, although they are not under the illusion that they could follow in Manchester City's footsteps and beat Bayern.

"It's liked David against Goliath," said defender Per Skjelbred on his club's website.

One of those goliaths is Xabi Alonso, who was included on the shortlist for FIFA's World XI on Friday.

"You've got to make things tight in the middle, otherwise Alonso finds a way through," said Hertha coach Jos Luhukay.

"He's a player who has what seems like 200 touches of the ball in every game. There's no other player in the Bundesliga who gets even near to him."

A repeat of the performance from last season, when Hertha were only narrowly beaten 3-2, is what Luhukay would like to see again on Saturday.

"That was pretty close to our best expectations," said Luhukay who, like practically every coach preparing to face Bayern, knows that getting anything out of the game is a bonus.