“… then you might be missing a few grains in April”

Julian Nagelsmann attaches great importance to defensive behavior. The Bayern coach wants to reduce the number of goals conceded by his team compared to last season, as he said in an interview with uefa.com before the start of the Champions League against FC Barcelona (Tuesday, 9 p.m. in LIVETICKER).

“It’s about reducing the rate of goals conceded a little. Last year there were too many goals conceded. Too many games became too intense and then you got a lot of injuries in the crunch time phase, in March and April,” said Nagelsmann .

Last season, Robert Lewandowski, Niklas Süle, Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka lost four of the top performers in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against PSG. In addition, Douglas Costa, Corentin Tolisso and Marc Roca were not ready for action. In the end, the record champions retired despite a 1-0 win at Parc de Princes due to the 3-2 home defeat in the first leg.

“If you are behind too often and have to invest a lot, you might be missing a few grains in April.” The aim must be that “some games are easier to play. Then we can bring the maximum power to the pitch in the really big games,” explained Nagelsmann.

In addition, he wants to act more flexibly with his team. “That can be a different basic order or a different start-up behavior. We don’t always want to have to play the same boot,” said the 34-year-old.

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He does not see the adaptation to the opponent as a weakness, it is “a sign of strength when we have the ability to play different things and have several basic orders up our sleeve”.

So far, the record champions have mostly acted in the 4-2-3-1 system under the new coach this season. The six competitive games under Nagelsmann result in five wins and one draw.