As of: February 29, 2024, 12:02 p.m
By: Simon Wittmann, Jörg Bullinger
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Sports director Christoph Freund kept his fingers crossed for FC Bayern's U19s in the stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
© IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Meusel
FC Bayern's U19s are in the quarter-finals of the Youth League for the first time.
For sports director Christoph Freund, the direction on campus is right.
Munich – It was not for the faint of heart on Wednesday afternoon.
In the first 45 minutes everything went as planned for FC Bayern's U19s.
Benedikt Wimmer (20th), Javier Fernandez Gonzalez (28th) and Emirhan Demircan (45th) ensured a seemingly reassuring 3-0 half-time lead in the Youth League round of 16 against Feyenoord Rotterdam.
“That shows that the direction is right.”
Sports director Christoph Freund about the work on the FC Bayern campus.
But after the break, the Dutch, trained by former star Robin van Persie, came back with a double strike (52nd/55th) and it remained exciting until the final whistle.
“The first half had great energy, great playful phases.
The second half was of course difficult because they scored two goals.
Then it was a fight,” said Christoph Freund, analyzing the A-Juniors’ 3-2 victory in the stadium on campus after the end of the game in an interview with Fussball Suburb/FuPa Oberbayern.
This means that FC Bayern's youth department is in the quarter-finals of the Youth League for the first time.
“That shows that the direction is right.
“This is a great success,” says the sports director happily.
“You can just see that there is more and more quality there.” Nevertheless, the change announced on Säbener Straße in the summer probably still comes too early for the winning talents.
FC Bayern awaits the offspring of Olympiacos Piraeus in the quarter-finals
“These are very young boys, the youngest team still competing.
“They definitely need a little more time,” says Freund, dampening the expectations that, after Aleksandar Pavlovic, other homegrown players will quickly gain a foothold in the newly formed star ensemble.
“But there are some guys who have a lot of potential.
I’m glad they’re training with the first team.”
The next hurdle for René Marić's team is March 12th or 13th.
Then the U19s have home advantage again in the quarter-finals against Olympiacos Piraeus.
In a possible semi-final, FC Bayern would face the winner of the game between FC Nantes and FC Copenhagen.
If we even manage to make it to the final, we could face a duel with a big name.
The youth teams from Real Madrid and AC Milan are in the last eight, as are the reigning German A-junior champions FSV Mainz 05 (against FC Porto).
(Simon Wittmann/jb)