All Football

Zidan, Rakitic, Porcello, Grote, Gomez, Bastürk, Dejagah, Kern, Diego, Olic, Jelic, Bulykin, Misimovic, Azaouagh, Köhler und Da Silva.

Life is a series of challenges
Zidan, Rakitic, Porcello, Grote, Gomez, Bastürk, Dejagah, Kern, Diego, Olic, Jelic, Bulykin, Misimovic, Azaouagh, Köhler und Da Silva.

What do these players have in common? Yes, they are mainly attackers with Bundesliga clubs. But what else links them? Same age? Same speed? Same haircut? Wrong, wrong and wrong again. These are the “only” sixteen players to score against Bayern Munich this season.

And talking of ”only”: FC Bayern have only let in a total of 18 goals so far in the current season. There are lots of reasons for that: for starters, there s the defence-orientated midfield in front of the back four and there s Oliver Kahn in fine form in goal in his farewell season. But above all there s Bayern s superb central defence.

High praise from Hoeneß

Lucio has learned it can be fun playing football in your own of the field and Martin Demichelis has quietly progressed to be “the best defender in the Bundesliga”. Those words of praise come from manager Uli Hoeneß. And Bayern s sporting advisor Paul Breitner sys he s playing ”the best season of his life”.

And a glance at the bundesliga.de databank tells the same story about the Argentinian. Demichelis and the his co-defender Lucio come head the list, wining 68% of one-on-one duels. In the air, he s come out top in 75% of the time. Remarkably, Bayern have kept a clean sheet only once without Demichelis. With him playing, they have recorded 14 clean sheets.

“Reassuring stats”

Demichelis, a regular whose spent 2246 Minutes on the field for Bayern, acknowledges the data bank stats. I don t live for the figures. Every three or four days, I have to prove that I can play to a high level. But the stats are reassuring and a confirmation of my performance.”

There is recognition of his achievement in Munich and also in Argentina: “Everybody back home knows the Bundesliga,” says Demichelis. He missed out on the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but since then he s been a lynchpin in the national side, despite strong competition. He pus down his strength in one-on-one situations to his origins.

“In Argentina, life consists of a series of duels. Children don t have it as easy as they do here. From the beginning, I had to assert myself. And, of course, that shapes you,” says Demichelis. The defender comes from Justiniano Posse in Córdoba province.

While Otmar Hitzfeld operates a rotation principle, Demichelis is a regular, playing in 25 out of 30 games this season. His top mark in the Bundesliga was 27 appearances in the 2005/06 season. If he avoids injury, Micho – as he is known to team mates and fans – looks set to break his own record.

“We won t let anyone stop us now!”

But Demichelis is focussed on more than just personal goals, especially since Bayern already have the German League Cup and the German Cup already in the bag. “Our win the Cup has given us extra motivation. We have a lot of self-belief: we won t let anyone stop us now!”

The Munich boys have almost clinched the German championship, and they would like to bring the UEFA Cup back to Bavaria, too. Away to Zenit St. Petersburg, they will need either a win or to score at least twice in a draw, Luca Toni and Franck Ribery are back. Alongside them, coach Hitzfeld is putting his faith in Demichelis.

Demichelis says he would like to go on playing for Bayern for another 10 years and a minor dispute with his coach has long been forgotten in Munich. It arose when Bayern, without Demichelis, lost 0-2 away to Energie Cottbus. Brankco Jelic scored twice, making him one of the elite 16 to have found the Bayern net this season.

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