Bayern still focused on the title

BAYERN Munich start their assault on leaders Borussia Dortmund with a difficult trip to Hoffenheim as the second half of the Bundesliga season gets underway today.

Munich trail Dortmund by six points, but after winning their last five games before the winter break, following a temporary crisis, they have not given up hopes of snatching a seventh straight title.

“We’re six points off the lead and we want to and have to make that up. The game against Hoffenheim is very, very important and we’re looking forward to it,” Munich coach Niko Kovac said.

“We want to build on our final five games of 2018 and try to take that positive experience with us so we can keep winning games and build up the necessary confidence.”

Hoffenheim are seventh and chasing a European berth in their final months under coach Julian Nagelsmann, who has pledged “another big fight. We will fight back with everything we have.”

Nagelsmann leaves in summer for Leipzig who, in fourth, are the first opponents of Dortmund tomorrow.

“We have to get out of training mode and get into battle mode. In Leipzig, that’s when it really gets serious,” Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc said.

Dortmund have always won the title when they led after the halfway mark, but they are still refusing to accept the role of favourite.

“Bayern are always the favourite; I won’t allow myself to be told anything else. Anyone in such an economic sphere must live with being the perennial favourite,” CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said.

“For us it is more important that we have shown the German football community that we are a factor to be reckoned with again, that we have brought excitement back to the league. In the past years it was effectively clear at Christmas who would be the champions.”

Third-placed Moenchengladbach are at Bayer Leverkusen, who have a new coach in Peter Bosz, and Wolfsburg hope to have preserved the momentum that has swept them to fifth when they visit the ailing 2018 runners-up Schalke on Sunday.