MUNICH: The Club World Cup may have hampered some clubs’ pre-season preparations but for Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany the month-long tournament helped with a quick and seamless integration of new signings.
The Bavarians had new arrivals Jonathan Tah and Tom Bischof in the squad for the June 14 to July 13 tournament in the United States, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Paris St. Germain.
Several teams, including Borussia Dortmund, have said they felt the impact of a shorter-than-usual pre-season training period because of their participation in the Club World Cup.
The tournament left several top European teams with only four weeks to rest and prepare for the new season. Most top European leagues usually end in late May.
“The Club World Cup certainly helped in the integration of newcomers,” Kompany told a press conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s league game at Hoffenheim.
“There is this feeling that players like Jonathan Tah and Tom Bischof have been here longer (than they have been).
“Maybe it has to do with the fact that we were living together for an entire month.
“We don’t really know how the Club World Cup will influence the season but we stayed together for a month and that is rare for a club. If we can use that then we will,” he added.
Whatever influence it may have had the champions have hit the ground running, winning all their domestic and European matches and topping the Bundesliga with nine points after three games.
They made a winning start in the Champions League after forward Harry Kane scored once in either half to guide Bayern to a 3-1 victory over Chelsea in their league phase opener on Wednesday.
“But to grow more together we have to win against Hoffenheim,” Kompany said. “We are playing well, scoring goals and have worked hard to deserve this momentum. We have to keep working in order to maintain this momentum.”