Bayern coach Vincent Kompany has now explained his decision to bench Harry Kane for the Champions League round of 16 first leg against Atalanta Bergamo
Harry Kane already had to sit out against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Today he will also be replaced by Nicolas Jackson against Atalanta Bergamo. Vincent Kompany was asked about his decision on the prime microphonebefore the game and explained: „He has only trained once. We are already happy that he is involved today. He can certainly play a role today, but it was simply too early from the start.“
On his game plan, he said: „We have to win the duels, we have to win the second balls. After that, these spaces are created. That’s why it’s also a type of game that suits our team. We just have to remember that we also have to show our qualities.“
Gnabry believes in Jackson
Serge Gnabry also answered questions for prime before the game. He also thought it was „a bit of a shame that he’s not quite fit yet, but Nicolas Jackson also played a great game at the weekend and will come in today.“ When asked whether his role would change as a result, Gnabry explained: „I think my role will remain the same in that sense. He [Jackson ]will stand in for Harry and also bring his style of play into the game.“
In order to avoid conceding a 4-1 defeat in Bergamo like Borussia Dortmund, Gnabry does not want to „concede a goal like that early on. The atmosphere here will burn later. At the end of the day, we still want to play our game and remain patient.“
The „most important thing is to win the duels, to win the 50-50 duels“ in order to escape Bergamo’s man-to-man pressing. Gnabry also called for „lots of runs into the deep and a lot of self-confidence“.