Bayern Munich vs Werder Bremen - Carlo Ancelotti calm ahead of Bundesliga bow

Posted Thursday, August 25, 2016 by PA

Carlo Ancelotti insists the heat is on his Werder Bremen counterpart Viktor Skripnik and not on him as he prepares to take his Bundesliga bow as Bayern Munich coach this Friday.

The Italian replaces Pep Guardiola, who won three straight Bundesliga titles before moving to Manchester City this summer.

Prior to that, Jupp Heynckes had won an unprecedented Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League treble, meaning the expectations for more trophies are high heading into the new season.

However, Ancelotti is confident the team he has inherited know already how to deal with this pressure and, instead, he claims that Bremen have more to live up to when the new Bundesliga season begins at the Allianz Arena.

"They lost in the DFB-Pokal so the pressure is on them, and we will have to see how they cope without (the injured) Claudio Pizarro," Ancelotti said at a press conference on Thursday.

"I think that my own team are ready. We had a good pre-season and I hope we have a good game tomorrow.

"I'm very excited. This is a new competition for me. As I have said, I don't want to revolutionise anything here because there are many good things I want to maintain."

Ancelotti has already got his hands on one new piece of silverware since arriving in Bavaria, winning the Supercup a fortnight ago, but he knows that only that one trophy this season would not be enough for Bayern, or his own demands after a year out.

"I love football," he said.

"I know that there is pressure in this job and having to prepare a new game every three days is not really easy, but I enjoy it. I'm really hungry to work in the Bundesliga."

Xabi Alonso, Thiago Alcantara and Renato Sanches have all been passed fit, although the latter is not expected to make his debut, at least not in the starting XI.

In addition to being without Claudio Pizarro, Bremen will have to get by without new signing Max Kruse, who tore knee ligaments in his first competitive game for the club last weekend, and Philipp Bargfrede.

"We nevertheless have a lot of quality," said Skripnik, who has been trying hard to look on the bright side since losing to third-tier Sportfreunde Lotte a week ago.

In fact, that game could serve as an incentive to prove to the northern Germany side that not always the favourite wins.

"Maybe we played that game with fear, but we won't on Friday," Skripnik said.

"When we just defended against them in March, we lost 5-0, but when we attacked them in the cup, it was a great semi-final."

Bremen lost that game just 2-0 and Skripnik hopes a positive approach can earn them a better result this time.

"You can't just think of the bad things, you must also think of the good things," he said.

"We have done that."