FC Bayern Munchen News

The Germany international has tipped the Bayern winger to dethrone Lionel Messi and has stressed Dortmund will make life difficult for the Bavarians this term

Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus believes Franck Ribery could win the 2013 Ballon d’Or following his impressive performances with Bayern Munich last season.

The France international played a key role in Bayern’s historic treble win in 2012-13 and Reus thinks the winger could end Lionel Messi’s hegemony after the Barcelona forward won the prestigious individual award the past four years.

“Franck Ribery has had an amazing season at Bayern. I can see him winning this year’s Ballon d’Or,” Reus was quoted as saying by Kicker.

The Germany international then went on to stress that Dortmund will do everything within their limits to dethrone Bayern as Bundesliga champions.

“We have done our homework this summer and will be well prepared. Bayern will not end the season 25 points ahead of us again,” he said, resolutely. “We will challenge them again.

“We have had more than enough time to think about what went wrong in the Bundesliga.”

Reus also had his say on new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and had nothing but praise for the former Ligue 1 star.

“I do not watch Ligue 1 very often, so I did not know much about Aubameyang. He is incredibly fast and dangerous, though.”

Aubameyang, 24, signed a five-year deal with BVB last week.

The attacker thinks that the Spanish coach is just the man to help him unlock his potential and has praised new arrivals Mario Gotze and Jan Kirchhoff

Arjen Robben is looking forward to working under Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich and believes the former Barcelona boss can help him improve as a player.

Guardiola described Robben as “a gift” last week and the Netherlands international is delighted with his coach’s positive words.

“I want to keep improving as a player and I think Pep Guardiola is the right man for that,” Robben was quoted as saying on the club’s official website.

“His words of praise are a terrific compliment and it does make me a little proud. I’m looking forward to the time with him.

“I’ve had a number of outstanding coaches in my career and now there’s another one. I’m a little older these days, but I’m always open for something new.

“He’s a great coach and I’ve heard he really throws himself into training and talks a lot with the players. I’m really excited.”

The Dutchman then went on to praise the signings of Mario Gotze and Jan Kirchhoff.

“Mario is a superb player at such a young age,” the winger, who scored the Champions League-winning goal in May, added.

“We’ll be even stronger with him in the team. But Jan Kirchhoff will help us too, he’s a massive talent. We have so much quality, it’s unbelievable.”

The Bayern Munich star’s season was curtailed by injury in April but says he is enjoying being back at training with a new coach at the helm ahead of the new campaign

Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos says he is raring to go under new coach Pep Guardiola as returns to full fitness following a knee operation.

Kross suffered an adductor injury against Juventus in last season’s Champions League quarter-final first leg in April which left him sidelined for the rest of the campaign.

But now back to full fitness and a new coach at the helm, Kross says he is enjoying the fresh approach the former Barcelona boss has brought to the club.

“Training with Guardiola is good,” Kroos told reporters. “He’s always talking to each player, trying to give them a vision of the style of football he wants to play.

“I think that with him, every player will have a different task and will have to adapt their game to what he wants. He just has his own style – his own plan.

“He wants to communicate that to each player individually. For some positions, that works better in a one-on-one situation. It’s better to do that than talk in front of the whole team.”

Bayern go into next season as the first German side to win the treble and kick off their Bundesliga campaign against Borussia Monchengladbach on August 9.

The retired midfielder, who spent five years with the German champions, believes his former side are capable of reproducing last season’s record-breaking feat

Former Netherlands star Mark van Bommel says Bayern Munich can win the treble again, after die Roten became the first German side to do so in 2012-13.

The retired midfielder spent five years with the Bundesliga champions between 2006 and 2011, becoming their first non-German captain in 2008 after the retirement of legendary goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

“I would not be surprised if they win the treble again,” the 36-year-old told Bild am Sonntag, adding that he thought the current team could “last for years”.

He added: “Bavaria and especially Arjen [Robben] deserve it after the defeat against Chelsea [in the Champions League final in 2012].

“[They are] guys with class and character. Compliments to the board and president [Uli Hoeness].”

The former PSV, Barcelona and Milan star also spoke about his own plans for the future following his retirement at the end of last season, saying he would try and get his coaching license “as soon as possible”.

He said: “I want to see all my good friends [at Bayern] … but also track [new head coach] Pep [Guardiola]’s work.”

The coach admits the striker is likely to leave in the following summer and revealed Mario Gotze’s transfer was more upsetting in the last campaign than the Champions League final

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp believes Robert Lewandowski will definitely join rivals Bayern Munich next season.

The Schwarzgelben have denied the Poland international, whose contract runs out in 2014, a move away from Signal Iduna Park this summer, with the Bavarians having led the chase to sign the striker.

Klopp has accepted that it will be impossible to keep the 24-year-old from Bayern’s clutches beyond the current season but is keen to make the relationship between forward and club work in the coming 12 months.

“I think it is a known fact that Robert is going to play for Bayern after the upcoming season,” he told Welt am Sonntag. “Now the only question is how to shape the time until then.

“That is our concern and it is our commitment to our fans and members to ensure that we will have a more competitive team in the upcoming season.

“Up to a certain point we were with Robert’s desire for change and were ready to talk. But nothing happened so we had to eventually say: ‘[A sale] now no longer works for us.’

“And now we want to prove that, with a quality player like Robert, we can be successful in the coming year. Our results in the coming season is what we’re all about. I know that Robert and I see it the same way.”

The BVB coach also revealed that Mario Gotze’s €37 million move to the Allianz Arena, which was agreed in April, was more upsetting than the club’s eventual Champions League defeat to Bayern in the final.

“That was the bigger disappointment in the moment [than the Wembley loss],” Klopp added. “Mario was, until mid-April, a key part of our planning. And suddenly we were confronted with the reality that he wasn’t.

“That was pretty tough. Basically, it is normal if a football club want to sign a player from another team. We do, too. But it was the timing of the notification of the transfer, the day before our important semi-final against Real Madrid, which was something disreputable. But, otherwise, there was little in the last season that was painful.”

Despite Bayern’s tendency to outspend Dortmund, Klopp is happy with how his side operate and favourably compared his side to English folk legend Robin Hood against the reigning German, DFB-Pokal and European champions.

“It will be infinitely hard [to win the Bundesliga this season],” he continued. “Bayern were quite possibly the best team in the world last season.

“But they did not beat us yet in the league on both occasions. And maybe we can also use the fact that we have not won anything in the last season, pulling against a certain power and greed.

“We have a bow and arrow. And if we aim accurately, we can hit them. Only the Bavarians have – I feel – a bazooka. The probability that they will hit us is so much larger. Nevertheless, Robin Hood is said to be very successful!”