Generation Wembley (FC Bayern - Generation Wembley)

ONE YEAR LATER

You know, everyone has their own memories,

but with me it was

I can still see myself, sitting in the bus ahead of the game.

Listening to music as usual.

I only had one thought in my mind:

We're going to win today!

CHAPTER 6 GENERATION WEMBLEY

SUMMER BREAK JUNE 2012

FC Bayern was like the grave all week.

You could walk around and everyone was defeated, like us.

We had no idea, how to process it and get over it.

But at some point, after about a week the mood turned.

We all got onto a call every day,

even though we were really meant to be on vacation,

and we just restructured the team a bit.

It was also lucky,

that the new players who joined us, mostly weren't

so well known, like Mario Mandžukić, but fitted in well.

I didn't really know him.

Then I started to notice him.

This guy who always went in hard.

At that time they made some changes to the team, filling in

the missing pieces of the puzzle.

In Mario we had a forward, whose defining talent,

was to beat defenders, and support

his own team to the very last.

A totally different type of player than me.

Not only at games, but also when we trained down here.

No one wanted to play against him.

I was always a fighter.

I knew when I came to Bayern,

I was still fairly unknown,

I wasn't a big name,

so I knew they had a great team

and a big name, but I was bringing something new,

which they may not have already had.

We just restructured the squad slightly and it worked

both qualitatively and in terms of the mentality.

Some really important players were added,

really good players, who helped the team.

I'm thinking of Dante.

The best day of my life was the day,

when I signed the contract.

My agent said: “Bayern Munich are interested."

And I said: “Wow, then you don't need to talk to any other club,

because that's where I want to go."

He said: “That's risky, because it's competitive."

So I said: “Yes, but

this club,

only turns up once in your life."

Dante: just an outstanding player a classic left-side central defender,

with a great long passing, and he fitted in perfectly.

I arrived at the same time as Mario Mandžukić':

and Claudio Pizarro.

I already knew, this was my chance,

to win the Champions League, because that was what I wanted,

that was what I was missing, I had no doubt about that.

Of course I decided straight away, to come to Bayern.

At that moment in time

the right transfers came together at the right time.

Shaqi as well.

Xherdan Shaqiri was a young guy who had played at Basel.

Jupp had scouted him,

and taken a look at him and said:

“Let's take him, because he's got that special something."

He was so small... I always said he looked like a cannonball.

Ottmar Hitzfeld was the national team coach,

and I'd say that Hitzfeld played a huge role.

Obviously Bayern asked him about me too.

These players, I can't tell you how important they were for us.

They were a breath of fresh air,

bringing new energy,

it was brilliant.

Jupp did a great job with these transfers.

We made good selective transfers.

Matthias Sammer also joined.

Someone not afraid of tough subjects.

Also a very, very good transfer by Bayern.

Matthias was sporting director with the DFB,

and we then practically signed him from the DFB to Bayern.

We'd been following Matthias Sammer's progress for a long time.

We were in contact every now and then,

when he attended Bayern games in the stands.

We talked about football...

When you meet him, you automatically talk football.

And I was always struck by the competence in his remarks and statements

And Matthias was

a building block of the whole mosaic that year.

Bayern Munich is a top club in Germany, in Europe, in the world,

and of course you know that it's very attractive

and I feel suitably honoured.

And the way I personally think still means

that we need a new spirit at Bayern.

For the players, what happened last year is not so easy.

It wasn't that bad, but something was missing.

On the 28th or 29th of August, just before the transfer window closed,

we had a meeting upstairs:

Jupp, Matthias Sammer, Karl Hopfner, Uli Hoeneß and me.

And then Karl-Heinz interrupted the discussion and said:

"Jupp, what do you think? Is he a player for us?

Will he improve us? Will he make us stronger?“

Jupp just sat there, a" relaxed and said: "Yes!"

So I said: “Then I vote we sign him.“

And everyone in the room, instinctively raised their hand.

Then I said: “So that's unanimous."

That was his transfer. Jupp Heynckes always said: "I have to have that one."

Javi Martinez.

Hello.

I had this feeling, I just needed to change club.

But of course Athletic Bilbao was opposed to it.

Javi was difficult and particularly expensive: 40 million was a lot of money back then.

Bilbao weren't at all obliging.

If you get an offer for 40 million Euro, we'll let you go.

In that case it was really difficult, but we got there.

Of course Javi was incredibly important for us,

as our mentality driver.

I'm a player who always gives my all

and in the big games I'm really at my best.

It was important to stay cheerful,

because it was a really, really

difficult situation for the entire club.

It overshadowed everything, just as training

at Bayern Munich started again.

You saw the same faces, of players you'd been

crying next to in the shower or the changing room.

Then Jupp Heynckes gave us a pep talk

and we all pulled ourselves together.

Then in the training camp we realised: “Aha! It's all coming together."

From day one, in the summer of 2012,

in Trentino I think we

really hit the accelerator.

The whole team felt the same way.

Jupp Heynckes is definitely the perfect coach. He managed to pull 25, or 22 players together.

We all knew our role, we all accepted it.

Now you'd think Jupp Heynckes, who was no spring chicken,

back then and was very experienced: How would he deal with a situation like that?

From day one, you could see

we all just wanted to

forget the shame.

We all said "Now we're really going for it.“

The thing driving it was

that Jupp Heynckes was just buzzing with energy.

Jupp said: "Listen guys, this season we want to win everything.

Believe me, believe me, I know, you don't believe me, but I'm certain,

we're going to win everything this season.“

Having credibility and your own identity,

that's Bayern for me.

That's also how I see my obligation

to activate, to tease out,

to work through, to excite, to please, to inspire.

We were physically strong, absolutely top fit.

I've never seen us in such good shape since then,

in terms of attitude,

preparation,

and winning mentality.

So it started out well, when we won the 2012/13 Supercup

against Dortmund at the Allianz Arena.

Greetings to the reigning German champions,

Borussia Dortmund, and the German record champions, Bayern Munich.

It was my first competitive fixture,

I wanted to show myself in a good light.

After losing the championship twice, and losing against them 5-2 in the cup,

it was really important to us,

not because of the trophy,

but because of the prestige:

Okay, now we can finally beat them again.

We knew, that after losing that double,

Bayern would be hungry and ready to fight back

and that's exactly what they did.

After that they really placed went all-in financially,

no question about it.

You almost felt

that Bayern had given up Their supremacy for this season.

But they proved everyone wrong really impressively, especially in the Bundesliga

and it was clear they were fighting back.

It was crazy:

We drew so much strength and motivation out of those defeats,

that we ran away with everything.

You'd be on the bus to the game and you knew:

“I'm going out there with the team and we're going to win.“

Okay, no question.

The same next week with a different opponent.

We were like a machine driving over our opponents,

driving on and on and on.

We were successful,

we had an incredible team spirit,

and even the players who weren't on the team from the start, played brilliantly.

I think it was very important to have this great team spirit.

So you can achieve big things.

Looking back on that bench now, it was amazing.

At any time you could bring on Mario Gómez, Pizarro, Shaqiri, wow!

Rafinha, Daniel Van Buyten,

Luiz Gustavo.

And Jupp kept looking at the bench, and saying:

"Oh my, who shall I bring on next?“

Everyone wanted a game

so everyone was important on this team.

It was really amazing, how the team

even celebrated, when we didn't concede in a game.