POLES APART
Bayern boss Heynckes insists Lewandowski will miss Parkhead purely because of injury... after Rummenigge claims he might have played if they’d been facing Madrid
BAYERN MUNICH manager Jupp Heynckes last night distanced himself from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s claim that tonight’ s Champions League clash at Celtic Park was not big enough to risk star striker Robert Lewandowski.
The fearsome Polish international was left back in Bavaria to recover from at high strain ahead of Saturday’s huge Bundesliga match at Borussia Dortmund.
And German legend Rummenigge, the club’s chief executive, claimed Lewandowski may have made the travelling squad ‘if we were playing Real Madrid’.
However, after touching down in Glasgow, Heynckes defended his club against claims they had been disrespectful towards Brendan Rodgers’ Scottish champions.
Heynckes said: ‘ Karl- Heinz Rummenigge was a world- class footballer and a great professional and he has his own opinions.
‘But I have always protected my team and, with Robert Lewandowski not fit, it would not have made any sense for him to travel over to Glasgow for the game on Tuesday night.
‘We had to take precautions with Lewandowski. He is currently receiving treatment and Tuesday’s game is too early for him.’
With World Cup winner Thomas Muller also out injured, Bayern arrived in Scotland without their two most recognisable strikers for tonight’s Group B clash.
It looks like Heynckes will solve the problem by switching to a 4-4-2 formation, rather than the 4-2-3-1 he used against Celtic in Munich, deploying wingers Arjen Robben and Kingsley Coman in central roles up front.
‘The injuries to both players are unexpected, but I will find a solution,’ said the manager.
‘If you took Karim Benzema out of the Real Madrid team and Edinson Cavani out of Paris Saint-Germain, it would make a difference to them, too. But we are all big clubs and we have to cope with these injuries.
‘I have Arturo Vidal, who is very fast and good up front, but I have a different plan f or him on Tuesday night.
‘There might be the possibility of playing a 4-4-2 formation with Robben and Coman up front, but I’ll make that decision on Tuesday.’
Heynckes first faced Scottish opposition 45 years ago when he played and scored for Borussia Monchengladbach in a 3-2 win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
But he has endured mixed fortunes against the Scots as a manager, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Dundee United in the UEFA Cup i n 1981 and then 2- 0 on aggregate to Jim McLean’ s men in the semi-finals in 1987, both times with Monchengladbach.
He was manager of Bayern when they lost 1-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle in 1989, but won 2-1 on aggregate to advance to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
His Bayern team also beat Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox later that same year in the European Cup before drawing the second leg 0-0 in Bavaria.
Now back for a fourth spell in charge of the Bavarian giants, tonight will see the 72-year- old lead a team out at Celtic Park for the first time.
But he is unfazed by the prospect of the hostile reception that lies in wait for the German champions.
‘It’ s always an amazing experience to play in Scotland,’ he smiled. ‘The players here are super professionals and it doesn’t matter what stadium you are playing in, the atmosphere is always first class.
‘But we have a lot of players who play for their national teams and they will be used to this kind of atmosphere. It is not going to be a problem for us.’
Bayern r i ght- back Joshua Kimmich scored the second goal in his side’s 3-0 win over Celtic at the Allianz Arena earlier this month, with Muller and Mats Hummels also on the scoresheet.
The versatile 22- year- old is confident that, even without Muller and Lewandowski, the visitors have the players to crush Celtic’s dreams of reaching the
latter stages of the Champions League.
‘It doesn’t matter who plays in our team. We still have enough quality in t he t eam t o be successful i n Glasgow,’ said Kimmich.
‘We want to win and we want to reach the last 16. But we also still believe we can finish top of this group. We definitely believe we can beat Paris Saint-Germain at home. But for us to finish top, we can’t afford any mistakes against Celtic.
‘Of course we are expecting a difficult game against Celtic. We are looking forward to a great atmosphere here as well.
‘The best atmospheres I have experienced in my career were probably against Juventus in Turin, when we played Borussia Dortmund i n Berlin ( i n the German Cup final) and also in France last summer with Germany a t Euro 2 0 1 6 . An i ntense atmosphere can put extra pressure on you, but hopefully t he atmosphere will not be too good at Celtic Park — because that will mean Celtic are doing well. Our aim on Tuesday night is to win — no matter what.’
Heynckes, a Treble winner with Bayern in 2013, was coaxed out of retirement in October after a 3-0 Champions League loss in Paris saw Carlo Ancelotti sacked.
But Kimmich says the veteran coach has long since banished any air of discontent.
‘ There has been a positive development in the team since the arrival of the coach,’ said Kimmich.
‘We were five points behind in the Bundesliga but now we are back on top of the league.
‘It is up to us to show this is a team with enough quality to win and be successful.’