“We want to send out a message against Bayern”

“We are looking forward to taking on Bayern,” said Tedesco ahead of the battle with the record champions. “It’s another home game and weexperienced against Porto how amazing the fans in this stadium are.”

The 33-year-old has taken a number of positives from the 1-1 draw with the Portuguese champions. He felt that his side took a step in the right direction, stating: “We need to carry on like this”.

The Royal Blue fans should be a helping hand on Saturday: “The fans have always supported us so well,” said Tedesco, who feels that it is the players turn to deliver. “The fans seem to be very instinctive, as they always seem to know when we need a push,” he explained. “They still get behind the lads even if a young player makes a bad pass. The support is always there and doesn’t just go after a bad run.”

Taking down the opponents with force

A strong team performance will be needed to survive Bayern and defeat them in the Bundesliga for the first time since 2010. Tedesco is planning to adapt the tactics and style of play to the opponents, as with every Bundesliga game. For Tedesco, a big strength of the team last season was the ability to take down the opponents with a positive mentality and with force. The coach is hoping to achieve this again against Bayern.

Tedesco has identified a number of different tactics which Bayern have up their sleeves: “They have the ability to be more compact, but also can push forwards and force their opponents back.” Their tactics are said to be very similar to last season: “They are perhaps a bit more defensive and play one or two more long balls, but there isn’t a huge difference.” It is therefore unsurprising that they only made one new signing in the summer; Ex-Schalke man Leon Goretzka.

The Schalke head coach will have the same players available to him as he did on Wednesday against Porto. Alongside the long-term injured players, Steven Skrzybski will also be missing. The new signing from Union Berlin has a small strain and will be assessed again after the Bayern game.