Bayern aim to learn from City lesson in Berlin

28 November 2014 01:31

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 on Saturday.

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.

- Battle royal -

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.

On Friday, Dutch coach Huub Stevens takes charge of bottom side VfB Stuttgart at Freiburg having been named as Armin Veh's successor on Tuesday.

It will his second stint at the club having kept them up last season as caretaker coach.

Schalke, who are seventh, have to pick up the pieces of their 5-0 mid-week thrashing at home to Chelsea in the Champions League when they host mid-table Mainz after Roberto di Matteo suffered his first home defeat in his eighth game in charge.

Di Matteo is without Cameroon defender Joel Matip, who is sidelined until 2015 with the foot injury which kept him out of the Chelsea drubbing, while striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is just one yellow card away from suspension.

Last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund are at mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday 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.

Werder Bremen, who posted loses of nearly 10 million euros in mid-week, need a win at home to Paderborn as they look to climb up from second from bottom.

North German neighbours Hamburg are at sixth-placed Augsburg with captain Rafael van der Vaart having admitted he is prepared to take a pay-cut with his contact, worth 3.5 million euros, set to expire at the end of the season.

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.

Fixtures (all times 1430 GMT unless stated)

Friday

Freiburg v VfB Stuttgart (1930)

Saturday

Schalke 04 v Mainz 05, Bayer Leverkusen v Cologne, Augsburg v Hamburg, Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen v Paderborn, Hoffenheim v Hanover 96 (1730)

Sunday

VfL Wolfsburg v Borussia Moenchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund (1630)

Source: AFP