Benefit match | ‘A massive game' for Philipp Lahm
Germany international Philipp Lahm grins as he reveals how much he is looking forward to “a massive game” against FT Gern. Only the seriously foolhardy would bet against Bayern winning at a canter away to Munich local league outfit Freie Turnerschaft Gern in Friday’s benefit match, but the run-out represents the personal highlight of the pre-season period for Lahm. “I’m really fired up for tomorrow,” he repeats, “we have to beat them.”
Secretly, the scorer of the opening goal at last summer’s World Cup will be hoping FT Gern at least do themselves credit, because it is where Lahm took up organised football at the age of five, going on to spend six seasons wearing the suburban outfit’s colours. The family links to Gern remain strong: his mother is a youth officer at the club and his sister an active member. The proceeds from Friday’s match have been earmarked for the construction of urgently-needed new dressing room facilities.
The ties that bind
“I’m very close to FT Gern. I still know plenty of people there,” Lahm relates, recalling a long injury lay-off after damaging cruciate ligaments in 2005. “I went and watched the first team there every Sunday,” he explains. On Friday, he will cross paths with one or two players he used to urge on from the touchlines: “They still have a couple of lads I know.”
However, old allegiances and friendships will be put aside for the 90 minutes on Friday. The match is Bayern’s second warm-up outing of the new season, with Lahm set to switch from the left to the right side of defence for the first time. “At the moment we’re training with me as right-back and Marcell Jansen on the left,” he comments.
Battle for places
In all probability, Bayern will field the pair in the positions they occupy for Germany, an arrangement likely to continue into the early part of the Bundesliga campaign, at least until the competition for the full-back positions heats up with Willy Sagnol’s return to fitness. Lahm regards the situation as normal. “We all have to use pre-season to prove we’re worth a place in the starting line-up. Eighteen, 19, 20, 21 of us have a realistic chance of playing from the start.”
On Friday at least, FT Gern old boy Lahm is guaranteed a game. He would dearly love to add his name to the scoresheet. “I don’t think anyone would be angry with me if I scored,” he reflects, reporting on the mood in the Gern camp in the run-up to the fixture: “They’re all up for it.”
Philipp the boss
However, the 23-year-old is privately planning a personal contribution towards foiling his hometown heroes in their efforts to keep the score within respectable limits. “They don’t know I’m giving the pre-match team-talk tomorrow,” Lahm smiles, a picture of excited anticipation.
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