Bayern travel to Stavanger on artificial turf, where Kompany faces two head coaches
Bayern play their second competitive match on artificial turf against a Viking side run by two head coaches. Kickoff is at 21:00 on Tuesday, 13 October, after fireworks went off outside the Bayern team hotel overnight.
Two head coaches and a shared office
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany corrected a Norwegian journalist at the press conference on Monday evening, 12 October, and insisted the question should have concerned his time as a co-coach. Viking Stavanger, the Norwegian champions and Champions League newcomers, are led by two head coaches, Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim, a set-up that is rare in top European football. Kompany was player-coach at RSC Anderlecht from 2019 to 2022 and shared the role with Simon Davies, now head of youth development at Tottenham Hotspur. Describing that period, he explained how the arrangement worked in practice.
We shared an office, sat opposite each other and analysed games all day.
Kompany said the two had to make training and match decisions together, and that their conversations never strayed from football. Jensen and Aarsheim were promoted together from assistant roles in January 2021 and hold long-term contracts. Both said they argue about ideas but never have a quarrel. Under their leadership Viking won the club's first league title in 34 years and the cup.
Artificial turf and a 5:0 opening win
Bayern began the new Champions League season with a 5:0 win over Bodø/Glimt, while Viking lost 1:3 at VfB Stuttgart in their opening match. The visit to Stavanger is Bayern's second competitive match on artificial turf, according to club data, and the previous one was a 2:2 draw at Spartak Moscow on 22 November 2006. Viking captain Zlatko Tripic, who is revered in Stavanger as the 'King of Stavanger', said Bayern have weaknesses but kept them to himself. He pointed to Bayern's attacking strength and said that when many players push forward, space opens up.
They may have the best attacking weapons in the world. When they send many players forward, spaces open up.
Aarsheim said playing at home on artificial turf may be a small advantage for Viking, since Bayern have rarely played on it, but he added that good players are good on any surface. Viking's home record is the basis of their hopes, and Aarsheim said the club has faced big games against Barcelona and Chelsea before, though this match is bigger.
Fireworks near the team hotel
At about 1:15 on Tuesday, 13 October, around two minutes of fireworks went off outside the Radisson Blu Atlantic hotel where Bayern are staying, roughly 20 hours before kickoff, according to a Bild report. The blasts could reportedly be heard at the harbour, and the upper floors of the ten-storey hotel were reached, according to the same report. Police and other emergency services did not respond, the report said. N-tv wrote that the fireworks were presumably set off by home fans to disrupt Bayern's preparations, and the local Aftenblad described it as a first for the city before the club's biggest match.
- Kompany corrects a journalist's question at the pre-match press conference
- About two minutes of fireworks go off outside Bayern's team hotel, according to Bild
- Kickoff at Viking Stavanger, broadcast live on Prime Video
Bayern are not the first visiting team to face such a disturbance in Munich this year. Bild and Focus both reported fireworks outside the Real Madrid team hotel in April, and Real lost 3:4 and were eliminated in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Harry Kane's near move to Stavanger
Harry Kane, now Bayern's striker, came close to joining Viking in 2012, according to former Viking scout Gary Goodchild, who spoke to Stavanger Aftenblad. Goodchild said he was told a loan to Scandinavia could do Kane good, so he travelled to England to watch him play for Millwall. Kane was injured and missed the match, and the move collapsed. Kane was then still a young player at Tottenham Hotspur, and he made his Premier League debut on 18 August 2012, coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute under André Villas-Boas.
Kickoff and broadcast
The match kicks off at 21:00 on Tuesday, 13 October, and Prime Video broadcasts it live, with a live ticker on ntv.de and a live radio commentary on BR24Sport. Max Eberl, Bayern's sporting director, said Viking's model appears to work because the club qualified for the Champions League. Asked whether a similar model could work at Bayern, he said 'rather no'.
It seems to work, otherwise they would not have qualified for the Champions League.
Kompany, for his part, said that working closely with a coaching staff can make decisions feel logical rather than instinctive, but that such relationships need a great deal of investment.
