Leroy Sané "ready" for return against Arsenal: "I feel better now"
When he was at Manchester City, Bayern winger Leroy Sané met Mikel Arteta for the first time. Back then Arteta was learning under Pep Guardiola and he helped Sané to get to his best form:
“It's always been fun with him. We talked a lot about my performances, things I can improve on and mistakes I made during matches. His ideas helped me become a better player, especially when it comes to positional play and my passive actions when attacking”, said Sané about Arteta.
The winger would love to show his former mentor his further improvement on Tuesday, when Bayern face Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal clash.
But is Sané even able to play? Minor injuries have been holding him back in recent weeks, including in the 2:3 loss against Heidenheim on the weekend.
“I was in a lot of pain, it just didn't make sense for me to play through it. The pain always changes, sometimes I feel it when I'm sprinting, another time when I shoot. That makes it difficult for me”, said Sané about his injury problems. “But I feel better now and I want to play against Arsenal. The decision is up to the coach”, he continued - with a smile.
It became apparent that Sané wasn't playing problem-free in the last few weeks and you can see it in his numbers: he's yet to continue his brilliant form from the first half of the season - Sané hasn't scored a goal since December 2023! But those facts don't influence his mindset too much:
“I don't only look at the goal numbers when I ask myself if I played well. If I was able to help the team defensively, then I consider that to be a good performance, too”, Sané concluded.
It's also important to note that the whole Bayern team are struggling with their form at the moment, not just Sané.
“Obviously everybody is frustrated. We know what we are able to do and whenever we don't deliver, we are disappointed - just like after the Heidenheim match. But we also know that we've been able to show how good we can be in the Champions League. That gives us hope for the next games”, said Sané.
A player Sané excluded from this criticism is Harry Kane - the “London specialist” will be a key factor for a possible success against Arsenal:
“I really want him to keep scoring, break records and help us winning. He's a fantastic teammate who makes the players around him better. I think we have a good connection on the pitch”, said Sané about Kane. Tuchel is also doing a good job in motivating the players for each game: “He's especially excited for the game, since he worked in London before. He gave us a plan and if we can follow this plan, we definetly have a chance to dominate”, said Sané about Tuchel.
It'll be exciting to see whether or not Bayern can play well against Arsenal, who Sané descibed as “as good in the Premier League as Leverkusen in the Bundesliga”.
One big obstacle Bayern has to overcome on Tuesday is playing without their fans in the stadium:
“It's annoying, we always want to play and win for our supporters. In this case we will try to play our best game, so that we can give back to them - I know the support in the Allianz Arena will be great”, said Sané about the fan situation.
The biggest obstacle to overcome will certainly be the opponents themselves - it's the first time in what feels like forever in which Bayern goes into a game against Arsenal as the "underdog".