Thomas Muller believes Bayern Munich‘s victory over Arsenal – and the job his teammate Konrad Laimer did on Martin Odegaard in that game – has helped the side reach new levels in recent weeks.
The Bavarian giants endured a woeful domestic campaign that saw them surrender the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen. However, things are different in Europe. Bayern are just 90 minutes away from reaching the Champions League final. They played a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their semi-final against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
The German giants eliminated Premier League leaders Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate despite a spate of injury problems in the squad. In the second leg in Germany, Laimer turned in an excellent display to repeatedly thwart the Arsenal midfield, particularly Gunners skipper Odegaard, with Joshua Kimmich scoring the goal that sent his side into the final four.
The performance of Laimer against Arsenal has given Bayern more belief
Asked what has given Bayern belief you get to final, Muller said: “The games and the win over Arsenal gave us a little bit of self-confidence.
“Not the team spirit where you go out and drink a beer together but it gave us this belief, this kind of… this Konni Laimer feeling when he is hunting Odegaard like a dog, maybe you know this story.
“This winning feeling, it gave us a little bit more belief in ourselves to be a bit more aggressive in the last few weeks. We’re in a good mood, we are not playing perfect but we are playing better.”
The performance of Laimer in the second leg against Arsenal won widespread praise earlier this month. His manager Thomas Tuchel lauded him for neutralising Odegaard on the night. When asked what he was most proud of from the match, Tuchel said: “The team performance, and I’m very proud of Konni [Laimer] too. Of course we defended against them in the block, but Konni really stuck to Odegaard, played half a man-marker role.”
As featured on GoonerNews.com
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