Bayern remembers Beckenbauer as the Bundesliga returns from its winter break with Leverkusen in lead
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Thank you, Franz.
That simple message will shine in toweringly high letters on the outside of Bayern Munich's stadium on Friday as the Bundesliga returns from its winter break with a game dedicated to Franz Beckenbauer.
A club legend for Bayern as a player, coach and president, Beckenbauer's death at the age of 78 has prompted tributes from across the soccer world but has left a particularly deep impression on the team where he spent so much of his decades-long career.
As well as the “thank you, Franz” message which has been repeating on the Allianz Arena each evening, and which will be shown during Friday's game against Hoffenheim, Bayern's players have worn black armbands in training, and the club is hosting a vast memorial service at the stadium on Jan. 19.
“He just has such an incredible life's work and an incredible personality,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said of Beckenbauer on Thursday. “I'm too young myself to remember him as a player and to have seen him live or on TV, but the scale is hard to grasp and perhaps impossible to put into words. So it will be certainly be very emotional tomorrow in the stadium and very emotional over the next few weeks.”
Bayern goes into 2024 four points behind leader Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, although Bayern has one extra game to play.
Friday's opponent Hoffenheim is seventh with ambitions of qualifying for European competition next season. American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo has taken points off Bayern in his last three games at the Allianz Arena with Hoffenheim and his previous team Stuttgart.
The New Jersey-born Matarazzo paid tribute to Beckenbauer on Tuesday, recalling how he followed his games for the New York Cosmos as a child. “It’s the first match in Munich after his death. It will be an emotional moment in the stadium. Franz Beckenbauer was a great personality," he said. "His death was a sad moment for the entire world.”
Bayern is also close to signing Tottenham defender Eric Dier to join his ex-teammate Harry Kane, who has scored 21 goals in 15 Bundesliga games since arriving in Germany, leading the league and breaking records for new signings.
LEVERKUSEN UNDER PRESSURE
Elsewhere, there's one big question for the second half of the season. Can Leverkusen and coach Xabi Alonso keep up the pace?
Leverkusen is the only unbeaten team in any of the top five-ranked European leagues, and is undefeated in the German Cup and Europa League too for a total run of 25 games in all competitions this season.
A trip to 11th-place Augsburg on Saturday isn't the toughest obstacle that Leverkusen and Alonso will face this season, but they'll have to do it without a contingent of key players.
Leverkusen is without top scorer Victor Boniface, who needs surgery on a thigh injury he sustained while training for the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria. Two members of Alonso's first-choice defensive line are also at the African Cup of Nations, with Odilon Kossounou playing for Ivory Coast and Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso. Forward Amine Adli is with Morocco.
Boniface's absence likely means that Patrik Schick will need to step up as Leverkusen's striker. The tall Czech forward has struggled with injuries but made the most of limited game time with six goals in all competitions and finished 2023 with a hat trick against Bochum on his first league start of the campaign.
INTERNATIONAL DUTY
Other key Bundesliga players currently at the African Cup of Nations or the Asian Cup include the league's second-highest scorer, Serhou Guirassy of Guinea, whose 17 goals have been key to Stuttgart's unexpected push into the Champions League places.
Bayern will be without full-back Noussair Mazraoui of Morocco and central defender Kim Min-jae of South Korea, while Werder Bremen's Naby Keita is with Guinea and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush is in Egypt's squad.
Borussia Dortmund visits Darmstadt on Saturday seeking its first league win since Nov. 25, and Leipzig hosts Frankfurt the same day in its first game since loaning Timo Werner to Tottenham.
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