Maaßen: “We need things to go perfectly”

Away to the German champions

On Sunday 27th August (17:30 CEST), FC Augsburg face FC Bayern in their first away trip of the season. Despite the home team being labelled as favourites, FCA head coach Enrico Maaßen is optimistic ahead of the game.

“Everyone’s expecting Bayern to run away with it, but we can cause an upset,” said the 39-year-old in Friday’s press conference. He referenced last season: “Last time round, we managed to beat Bayern at home. We need things to go perfectly like that again, then we’ll be able to get something from the game.”

Berisha in the starting XI

In September, FCA managed to beat the team from Munich 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from Mergim Berisha. The German international also bagged a brace in the return fixture, which ended in a 5-3 defeat. Before the upcoming encounter at the Allianz Arena, Maaßen attested to the 25-year-old’s striker’s instinct and guaranteed that he would be starting: “He got a lot minutes last weekend and is getting closer to being fully fit. He’s got a very good record against Bayern and will start on Sunday,” said the 39-year-old.

Two players returned to Maaßen’s squad this week. Arne Maier and Irvin Cardona reported back to training after overcoming illnesses and are available to be selected for the game on Sunday. Nathanaël Mbuku, Ruben Vargas and Robert Gumny are expected to miss out, along with Jeffrey Gouweleeuw. The 32-year-old is back in training, but it’d still be too early for him to play against the record champions. New arrival Patric Pfeiffer is still suspended from last season.

Around 3,500 fans are expected to make the shortest away trip of the season to support the team at the Allianz Arena. All tickets for the away end have been sold.