Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara is confident that, despite a managerial change, his team will continue to play the kind of dynamic football that will entice new fans to support them.
Thanks to new television rights deals in the United States and other markets where football's popularity is growing, Bayern are seeing their popularity increase worldwide. Fans "appreciate how Bayern play and how Bayern are," says the Spain international. "That's a big deal for us."
Though Pep Guardiola, the coach who brought Thiago to Bavaria, left for Manchester City at the end of last season, the midfielder remains confident that supporters will continue to tune in and fall in love with the German giants' style of play under new boss Carlo Ancelotti.
"We want to have the ball and we have a coach who has won everything as a coach and as a football player as well," he told Goal_._ "He has an amazing relationship with the players so we are very excited to start this year, to play games with Carlo."
Thus far, pre-season has produced encouraging results for Bayern. Though they lost their first match of the tour on penalties after a 3-3 draw with AC Milan, a 4-1 drubbing of Inter on Saturday showed a connected squad. And, as Ancelotti and many of his players have stressed, there are regulars in all positions who are not part of their American tour because of holidays after Euro 2016 or injuries.
One of the advantages that a pre-season tour provides is an opportunity for players to grow their friendships with other team-mates. A tight-knit dressing-room has been key to Bayern's recent success, according to Thiago, and despite being at a team where the battle for minutes is a fierce one, he says that players competing for spots often form the strongest off-field bonds.
"That's one of the reasons why we progress so far in the Champions League and why we've won four straight Bundesligas and three DFB-Pokals [in the last four years]," he said. "You have to play well, you have to have good behaviour, you have to fight and, at the same time, you have to have a good dressing-room. We have this combination."
The last stop on Bayern's tour is the New York City area and Thiago revealed that he once supported the local NBA team for an unusual reason.
"I was a big fan of the Chicago Bulls just because of Michael Jordan but nothing else," he recalled. "And the New York Knicks as well because, when I was very young, I saw a movie with Whoopi Goldberg and I loved that movie and she was a New York Knicks [coach]. I don't remember the name, but... Eddie! Eddie was the name," he said of the 1996 box-office flop.
While his taste in movies has become more refined as he has grown, Thiago has npt lost his outright love for playing the game of football. When asked if there is now too much activity for athletes between league, cup and Champions League campaigns, international tournaments, and pre-season competitions, the 25-year-old replied: "I love to play football. If I could play football every three days, every time I would. For me, it's nice."
Though fatigue is not yet setting in, Thiago did remark that he has learned how to take care of his body more efficiently than the last time that he was on an American pre-season tour.
Thiago and Bayern will continue to work toward full fitness with a final tour match against Real Madrid on Wednesday. The team then return to Europe where an August 14 date with Borussia Dortmund for the German Super Cup awaits them.
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