ALLES KLARA! It’s clear that Klara Bühl lives for Champions League nights
Bayern Munich v Manchester City could be the tie of the round in the UEFA Women’s Champions League next week. And there’s no-one who looks forward to these matches under the lights more than Bayern – and Germany’s – lethal striker Klara Bühl.
Can she be the difference maker to slice open the defence… the Bühl in Man City’s china shop? We spoke to her ahead of the mouthwatering matchup.
Bayern Munich and Manchester City have similar, possession-based, attacking styles of play and both are currently riding high in their respective leagues. But one thing Bayern have is more experience – especially recently – in the prestigious Champions League.
Klara Bühl is one of those players your eyes are immediately drawn to whenever she plays for her club, Bayern, or her country, Germany. I’ve watched her several times for Germany as well as for Bayern, and she gets you up out of your seat with her audacity. Her clever runs on and off the ball, her pace, her eye for a cross or a wicked finish are constant threats to the opposition. And she loves every minute.
Asked about Man City’s strengths, Bühl immediately talks of their creativity, and particularly Lauren Hemp and the ‘world-class’ Bunny Shaw, who she reckons grabs nine out of ten of her chances, so they’ll need to get her “out of the game”.
She’s also looking forward to a reunion with German teammates now at City, like full-back Carlotta Wamser – who she could be up against – and Sydney Lohmann – who will probably watch from the stands while returning from injury. “It’s cool to play against your teammates from the national team,” she beams.
For Bayern, however, it’s all about their mentality, says Bühl, all about them and their own strength. The team will push for their own really creative playing style, and meanwhile Bühl has her own motivations.
She enjoys playing in the Champions League “game by game” and says you always want to compete with the best – noting they must also face Real Madrid and the mighty Barcelona. And despite being happy with how Bayern fared in the competition last season – reaching the semi-finals – this time the goal is definitely to make the top four in the league phase, she adds, and then have a shorter route to the final…
Personally, Bühl says she is working to get more dangerous in the box – a scary prospect when you look at her end product. And she simply cannot wait for more great games, like playing at home to City in the UWCL. In fact, just walking out under the floodlights, feeling the energy from the fans, and hearing that Champions League song, she says, is immediately thrilling…
I wanted to know whether Klara Bühl has been tempted to try her luck abroad yet, but first I asked her about the preparations for Bayern – and herself – ahead of such big European match-ups…
What does it feel like – what’s the difference – when you’re preparing for a big game like this at home to Man City, compared to a league match… the excitement, you’re under the lights, there’s going to be pressure, but does the preparation change at all?
Klara Bühl: There’s not a lot that changed, in a perspective from preparation side. I think we analyse the opponent, we’re going through their defensive and offensive game, we’re looking where are spaces we can play into, and what we can make out of it to get really dangerous, and I think it’s kind of the same preparation, before the league game and the Champions League game.
Of course, Champions League is not every weekend, that’s what makes it so special.
We are really looking forward to play under the lights in Unterhaching, and in front of a lot of spectators, and I think the first game in Champions League is always special.
You’ve mentioned the strength of the WSL, and I think a lot of leagues are quite strong now, and I wondered do people like Georgia Stanway (top, centre) maybe Leah Schüller (above, left) as well, who’ve come over here recently from your team, do they try and convince you to play abroad?
Klara Bühl: Of course, normally, you talk with each other, they tell us or me, how is it, and what experience they have in England, but in the end, like I said, it’s a decision that is based on the individual, from the player’s side.
I think in the end, we’re talking a lot of the England League, and I think it’s really, really strong, they’re really professional, a lot of big, big clubs, they really want to invest and are pushing the league.
But in Germany, I think we’re doing the same. Sometimes you cannot really see it, but we players, we feel it, like the German league is really growing, a lot of clubs are investing, and that makes also the German league really, really good.
Photos: Helen M Jerome
