Schweinsteiger: Bayern Healthier and Better Than Last Year

• The Sun, Thursday, May 23, 2013 1:20 PM

Bayern Munich is keen to shed the losers’ tag it carries into Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final, captain Bastian Schweinsteiger told reports on Wednesday. Though the Bundesliga champion heads into Europe’s biggest club game on the back of a devastating run of form, the Bavarian club remembers only too well that it lost its last two Champions League finals, to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan in 2010 and Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea last year.

Schweinsteiger insists that things are different this year. “If you compare it to the other two finals all players are available and can play,” the 28-year-old said. “We have a better squad than last season and you can see that. We never had a season like this in the Bundesliga. The way we played in all three competitions so far proves it.”

That being said, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern’s opponent in the final, has generally had the better of the Bavarian club over the past three seasons. In fact, Bayern’s only win against Jurgen Klopp's men was a 1-0 victory in the German Cup earlier this season. The clubs drew twice in the Bundesliga this season while Dortmund, last year’s German champion, won all four of the Bundesliga games in the previous two seasons. Dortmund also famously thrashed Bayern 5-2 in last season’s German Cup final.

Nevertheless, Schweinsteiger maintains that his team is the favorite. The German international also believes that Dortmund will struggle without injured playmaker Mario Gotze. "If a player like Gotze is missing, that could weaken the team," he said. "We have to concentrate on our game. If we live up to our potential, it is very difficult to beat us.”

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