Battle at FC Bayern

Laimer: “It’s always a shark tank in the end”

Konrad Laimer has plenty of competition at Bayern.

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

Konrad Laimer has only played one league game from the start at Bayern Munich this season. Short appearances are the order of the day under new coach Vincent Kompany. The Salzburg native has no self-doubts about that. "In the end it's always, as they like to say, a shark tank, you have to assert yourself," said Laimer in an ÖFB press conference on Wednesday.

He plays for FC Bayern Munich, the 27-year-old emphasized. "Whether you play there or not is not a dream come true. It's clear that there's a lot of competition, a lot of good players." But the season is long. "I want to bite into it and I know that I have what it takes," emphasized Laimer, who moved from RB Leipzig to the German record champions in the summer of 2023. His role was even bigger in the previous season under Thomas Tuchel. Laimer made 40 appearances in the league and Champions League alone.

Konrad Laimer (l.) doesn't always have it easy in Munich.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Training course was "not really fun"
In the ÖFB team, Laimer is a key player in midfield, at Bayern he is primarily used as a right-back - if at all. "In the end, you always want to play as a player, that's soccer. The situation is what it is right now," said the 42-time international (5 goals), for whom the most recent international matches have not gone according to plan either. "Everyone realized that the last training course wasn't really fun if you don't win."

After just one point from the two Nations League openers in Slovenia (1:1) and Norway (1:2), Laimer is hoping for a turnaround against the Kazakhs. "We know that we can do it," emphasized the leading player. At the meeting this week in Windischgarsten, he said, he sensed that "everyone wants to do something different and get back to where we were before".

The ÖFB team is still "a really good team with a really good team spirit. If we all pull together and impose our game on the opposition, then it's no fun playing against us - not for any nation in the world." However, you have to bring your own strengths to the pitch "100 percent in every game. We've realized that now."

"We have to show our face"
Kazakhstan will not risk much in Linz. "It's always difficult to play against deep-lying opponents," said Laimer, whose great strengths lie in his powerful play against the ball. The ÖFB team wants to continue to focus on this. "We have to get back to our game. We have to show our face, then it doesn't matter what Kazakhstan do." Energy and determination should be evident from the very first second. Laimer: "To stay in the Nations League, you have to win."