Bayern Munich's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti (right) attends a training session at the Aspire Academy in Doha yesterday.
Bayern Munich wrapped up their weeklong winter training camp in Doha yesterday, with their boss Carlo Ancelotti terming the sojourn highly beneficial and declared his players ready for the challenges ahead in second half of the season.
The German giants arrived in Doha on January 3 and held sessions at the state-of-the-art Aspire Academy in Doha. Yesterday, the Bavarians held their final training session with Ancelotti had his team sweating in the morning Doha sun for 50 minutes before their first friendly game of the year against KAS Eupen at Aspire pitch.
Speaking after the final training session, Ancelotti hailed ‘perfect’ Doha conditions and said his team is returning to Germany as a better side than the first part of the season.
“The week has been very good - we’ve trained with real intensity,” said the coach.
“We are leaving the camp with our confidence high.”
The former Italian footballer praised “perfect" facilities his team got in Doha.
“I am very pleased with the approach of my team, as well as the perfect pitches, the hotel and the performance-enhancing climate,” he said.
“The weather has helped us a lot as you can’t train with this sort of workload when it’s freezing,” added Ancelotti.
With just less than a couple of weeks to go for their first competitive match of the year against SC Freiburg, the coach said his team was ready to take on the challenge.
“We’re stronger than in the summer. We know each other better after six months working together. That’s why I think the second half of the campaign will be better than the first.”
Ancelotti hoped Bayern will show improvement after the training camp in Doha.
“Our expectations are to play better than we did in the first half of the season. We want to be up there until the end.”
Speaking about Manuel Neuer, who was once again voted into the FIFA FIFPro World XI for the fourth year in a row, the coach said: “Everyone is really pleased for Manu. He is the best keeper in the world. He always concentrates and helps the team to be better.”
However, he said his focus will be on each member of the team.
“All players are important. The squad is good, we have a good mix of young and experienced players. This mix helps us for the second part of the season,” said the coach before adding that his players will have to be a “bit careful” in readjusting a change in temperatures between Doha and Munich after returning home.
