Kimmich doesn’t know much about Pafos, but knows they can be a tricky away day for Bayern…
Bayern Munich have gotten off to a flying start this season, having won all eight of their opening eight matches across all competitions, the most recent of which came in the form of a 4-0 routing of Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. Better yet, the German Rekordmeister have already scored 30 goals from said opening matches, proving that their attack is once again a true force to be reckoned with. Vinceny Kompany was also able to make a small handful of changes to his lineup for the Bremen win, knowing that they have a tricky away trip to Cypriot side Pafos FC in the Champions League coming up.
Joshua Kimmich was one of Kompany’s regular starters that was given a bit of a rest against Bremen, as the midfielder came on in the 61st minute to replace Leon Goretzka. He was just getting over an illness from the week in the buildup to the Bremen clash, but he wound up getting a bit of an extra rest ahead of the trip to Pafos, which he recently admitted could prove to be quite a tricky test for the reigning Bundesliga champions.
“I don’t know much about the opponent; we haven’t done any analysis yet. Away from home, there’s always a special atmosphere. Last year, we struggled away in the Champions League. We’ll be very focused and won’t underestimate them,” Kimmich explained (via @iMiaSanMia).
This is Pafos FC’s first ever appearance in the Champions League, having made their way to the tournament after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv and Red Star Belgrade in qualifying and then playoff rounds to enter the final group stages. They are also coming off of the Cypriot first division title from the 2024-25 season and are currently second in the league table so far this season after five matches played.
As Kimmich alluded to, they did have their troubles on the road in the competition last season. They lost to all of Aston Villa, Barcelona, and Feyenoord away from home and the only wins away from the Allianz Arena they secured were the neutral venue against Shakhtar Donetsk and then the away leg wins over Celtic and Bayer Leverkusen later on in the competition.
Category: General Sports
