Mourinho: Bayern One Of The Best In The World

Mourinho believes that Bayern are one of the best clubs in the world, and has a huge amount of admiration for the team and their history.

He told fcbayern.de: "For me, FC Bayern is without a doubt one of the best clubs in the world.

"I remember when my father took me to the Estadio da Luz as a child to see Benfica play Bayern.

"Back then, there were fantastic players like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Sepp Maier or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and it was really fantastic."

The Portuguese is expecting a tough encounter with his German counterparts, and believes that in terms of preparation, Bayern have the edge over the Italian champions.

The Serie A season is still four weeks away, and Mourinho knows that his side are currently lacking in sharpness.

After the summer departure of Roberto Mancini, Mourinho is a recent arrival at San Siro and is still getting to know his squad. He also revealed that injuries have already hampered his plans for the upcoming Serie A and Champions League campaigns.

He said:"We are still in the phase in which I am getting to know the players and they are getting to know me. Unfortunately, four key players - Walter Samuel, Ivan Cordoba, Cristian Chivu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic - are absent through injury.

"Bayern have already played the Super Cup and are close to the start of the Bundesliga.
"They are already further than we are - we only started training a good two weeks ago because the Serie A season does not start until the end of August - and I expect a tough game, but that's fine. I prefer to have it tough now so then it will get easier later."

Peter Staunton