Germans ready to build up battered Bayern stars
The Germany camp expect to have to rebuild the battered confidence of their Bayern Munich stars ahead of Euro 2012 in the wake of the Bavarians' Champions League final defeat at the hands of Chelsea. The Blues beat Bayern 4-3 on penalties in Saturday's final after it finished 1-1 after extra time in Munich and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was left distraught when he hit the post with his spot-kick to set-up Chelsea's win. "When such an established national player misses, it takes a while to get over that," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes with concern. The miss allowed Didier Drogba to slot home the winning spot-kick and give Chelsea their first European title, while Bayern finish without silverware for a second season with eight of their team due to link up with the German squad. "Football is sometimes brutal, of course, we are all disappointed and sad," said Germany coach Joachim Loew. Bayern's Germany stars including Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez were all left bitterly disappointed, but can expect plenty of support when they arrive at the Germany camp in the south of France on Friday. "We have no magic potion that will rebuild everyone at once," admitted Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff at their pre-Euro 2012 training camp. "There is a process and we have to give the players a few days. "We will build the boys up again, the change of air will do them good, with us they can still win the title." Germany open their Euro 2012 campaign against Portugal in Lviv, Ukraine, on June 9, but face friendlies against Switzerland in Basel on Saturday and Israel in Leipzig on May 31. The Bayern players will only link up with the German squad after Tuesday's friendly against World Cup finalists Holland at the Allianz Arena.
