DPA
Doha
Bayern Munich trained in Qatar again on Saturday but their board member for sport, Hasan Salihamidzic, was upbeat that the players will have overcome their various various degrees of World Cup disappointment there and focus on the rest of the season.
Bayern are training for six days in Doha against the backdrop of Khalifa International Stadium where their Germany players including Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Müller and Jamal Musiala lost their World Cup opener 2-1 against Japan en route to a group stage exit.
The Dutch contingent around Matthijs de Ligt and newly-signed Daley Blind went out on penalties in the quarter-finals against Argentina, and the French players Kingsley Coman, Dayot Upamecano and Benjamin Pavard then also lost against Argentina in a shoot-out in the final.
"Of course the lads thought about it ... We have held a few talks with them,” Salihamidzic said on an unfamiliarly rainy day in Qatar.
But he stressed the focus of those meetings was on the weeks and months ahead.
"When you come back to Bayern it’s something different. The lads had a few weeks off and are now concentrating on the next tasks.” Salihamidzic said the World Cup players were "in good shape” as Bayern take a four-point Bundesliga lead into the second part of the season, rebounding well from a poor start.
They play Mainz in the last 16 of the German Cup and face Paris Saint-Germain with Argentina hero Lionel Messi and France star Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League last 16.
Bayern restart the season on January 20 with a difficult league match at third-placed RB Leipzig.
Bayern will be without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and defender Lucas Hernadez for the rest of the season, winger Sadio Mane is also still injured and defender Noussair Mazraoui out for the time being with a heart problem.
Blind has been signed to ease the defensive woes and while he admitted it was "a strange feeling” to return to Qatar after the still "painful” World Cup exit he is fully committed to the tasks ahead of him.
"I must be ready to help the team when it needs me. I may not be first choice. But I will fight to become first choice. I always want to play and I am ready to give it my all,” he said at his official presentation on the day. "We want to win trophies.”
The 99-times capped Blind is playing with a defibrillator he had a implanted a few years ago owing to heart problems, but said he is doing fine.
"I have shown that I can play at the highest level, that was never a problem. I trust my body,” Blind said.