Paderborn know each of the eight points they have collected thus far that led them to the top of the Bundesliga are valuable assets in the fight against relegation.
So the promoted side head into their showdown at Bayern Munich just wanting to enjoy playing the powerhouse champions.
“We want to show our best performance and give our all. The guys should enjoy the match. The result isn’t the most important thing for me,” admitted Paderborn coach Andre Breitenreiter after his team knocked off Hannover 2-0 to move atop the league.
“We have shown that we can play in different systems in the Bundesliga. The team has proven once again its highly tactical discipline.”
Breitenreiter said the team topping the table is a “nice moment for the guys, the club and all SCP fans”. But the coach isn’t ready to just roll over and hand Bayern the home victory on Tuesday at Allianz Arena.
“Of course we have a tactical plan against Bayern. But Bayern Munich are Bayern Munich. This club is in a class of its own.”
Bayern are just one point behind Paderborn but are fourth on the table behind Mainz and Hoffenheim – both of whom also have eight points.
For the second straight match, Munich will be facing a team less worried about the final result than enjoying the game. And Bayern failed to get their work done against a last-placed Hamburg team who were playing their first game under new coach Joe Zinnbauer and didn’t have high expectations of picking up points despite playing at home.
Munich are frustrated and angry about their scoreless draw in Hamburg.
“I’m not going home now feeling happy about taking a point. I’m angry,” said Thomas Muller after Munich’s first goalless draw since April 14, 2012.
“Yet again we’ll have to work hard for the full 90 minutes. We need to dig deep and pull out everything we have,” added Munich playmaker Mario Gotze.
“We need to pool our strengths and then take three points at home.”
Another frustrated team from match day four was previous leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who went a man down after just seven minutes and lost 4-1 at Wolfsburg after having lost midweek 1-0 at AS Monaco in the Champions League. It was a missed opportunity to reclaim the Bundesliga lead and move two points ahead of Munich, instead sitting now one point behind Bayern.
“We’ve got to put this behind us as quickly as we can and turn our attentions to our next game,” said Leverkusen’s Josip Drmic, who will look to rebound at home against Augsburg on Wednesday.
Also looking to rebound from a weekend loss on Wednesday are Borussia Dortmund, who host last placed Stuttgart.
After the other results had gone their way, Dortmund could have moved atop the table Saturday night but dropped 2-0 at Mainz and fell all the way to 10th place with six points. The loss hurt Dortmund even more as Henrikh Mkhitaryan went down with a foot injury and will miss a month, joining Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gundogan and Nuri Sahin on the team’s ever-growing injury list.
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