There are special circumstances surrounding Bayern’s upcoming Champions League match in Stavanger. Vincent Kompany is keen to adapt to them.
It won’t be quite as freezing for FC Bayern on Monday as one might expect in Scandinavia at this time of year. Temperatures of a mild 14 degrees and rain await the German record champions in south-west Norway as they prepare for their Champions League match against Viking Stavanger.
Nevertheless, it will be a change of pace for manager Vincent Kompany and his team. Stavanger play on artificial turf at the Viking Stadium so they can cope with all weather conditions throughout the year.
Kompany is therefore introducing a new approach to their preparations: for the first time under his leadership, the final training session will not take place at home on Säbener Straße, but at the opponents’ stadium – as was actually common practice right up until Pep Guardiola’s time.
Harry Kane and his team-mates are set to get a feel for the unfamiliar surface so that they can then secure their second win in their second match on Tuesday evening – for the second time, incidentally, against a Norwegian side following their 5–0 opening-day victory over Bodø/Glimt.
“I’ve never played on artificial turf in my 20-year career,” explains manager Kompany. “If the players have to do this for the first time, they might be able to get a feel for it beforehand. What sort of boots should they wear? I don’t have the answer to that myself. I’d rather not find out on match day, but the day before.”
Pizarro scored twice on the artificial pitch in Moscow
For Bayern, this won’t be their first Champions League match on artificial turf. In the 2006/07 season, Bastian Schweinsteiger and his team-mates faced Spartak at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and could only manage a 2–2 draw. Both goals were scored by Claudio Pizarro back then, in late November in front of 25,000 spectators.
Bayern are already used to unusual circumstances under Kompany; amongst other things, they had to play against Benfica at the Club World Cup in Charlotte in temperatures of nearly 40 degrees (0–1). “It doesn’t matter to me,” the manager makes clear. “I want us to be Bayern wherever we go. Wherever we fly or drive to.”
Whether that means tropical temperatures or possibly freezing ones. Or simply artificial turf. “It felt like the right decision, so that we could get a bit more information before the match.” Let’s see if the move pays off in the end.
