Football: Bayern's malady lingers on

Tim Collings in Munich sees post-Barcelona stress at work

LIKE A family still reeling from bereavement Bayern Munich are jutting out their chins, gritting their teeth and calling for unity and spirit as they embark on the new Bundesliga season. Less than three months after that momentous night in the Nou Camp the German champions are still struggling to wipe away the tears.

As they made their final preparations for yesterday's opening-day visit from Hamburg, it was evident that the scars ran deeper than those inflicted by any normal footballing setback. Manchester United's treble triumph was a crushing psychological blow to the proudest team in Bavaria whose fans, in their hundreds, still turned out to cheer their heroes through training on Wednesday at their manicured headquarters in Sabener Strasse, where Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge still strut their stuff, in suits and tracksuits now.

Yesterday 2-2 draw, achieved with a last-minute equaliser, was never likely to signal more than the fluctuating pulse of a patient involved in a long recovery programme from unexpected trauma. The coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, a gnarled veteran of the trenches in many years of campaigns, who recognises that United's hour of glory in Catalonia elevated them to global champions, acknowledged this when he suggested it may be a month before his mentally-fatigued players can rediscover their lost zest. By then the Champions' League in all its group glory will be upon us and Bayern's divided dressing room and injury-hit squad could be at the mercy of any number of better-prepared and happier teams. The real resilience of the broken losers in Barcelona will then be tested to the limit.

"We know the close season has been too short for our squad," said Hitzfeld's loyal assistant Michael Henke. "Everyone is still tired. We have a lot of injured players, others still working at their comebacks. The older players still talk a lot about Barcelona. It was only a few weeks ago. There are many players who have had operations and they are not ready, and there is some trouble, too, in the dressing room. To be honest, we need a good start to the season to wipe away the past."

Such honesty abounds in Munich. European supremacy remains the ambition. The Bundesliga title is a necessity. The players are hurt, the coaching staff still baffled by the defeat yet fuelled by desire and the fans bleeding with impressive ardour. The close-season signings - Swede Patrik Andersson from Borussia Monchengladbach (and once Blackburn Rovers), Parag-uayan Roque Santa Cruz from Olimpia de Asuncion in Paraguay, Brazilian Paulo Sergio from Roma and Michael Weisinger from Nuremburg - have absorbed the mood, rather than injected a new sense of beginning. Hitzfeld admits it.

"It is not easy now, we need a lift, a good start, something to start us off again," he said. "I have too many injuries to think about for the start of a season: Stefan Effenberg, Oliver Kahn and Lothar Matthaus to start with as well as some others. Then there are Lizarazu and Elber coming back after bad long-term injuries. It is a tough time. We have to recover. The players cannot believe, even now, that they are not seen as the best team in the world. So, it is very important that we settle down and make a solid start."

Hitzfeld has seen it all before. He is not surprised at the strength of the English clubs' revival. "Manchester United are now the best team in the world," he said, with sincerity. "They have great players, a great team spirit and they are strong. But they are not alone. The standard and the stakes are rising all the time. Who is next? I don't know, but look carefully at Real Madrid and Barcelona, at Milan and Parma and all the rest. In Europe, it will be tougher than ever."

Making matters worse for Hitzfeld and Bayern is the vexed role of Matthaus, for so long the hub of everything in the Munich team. With Effenberg out for eight weeks (and doubtful for the Champions' League group stage), the 38-year-old veteran's decision to leave mid-season for New York and a swansong in the United States has been severely damaging.

On Wednesday, at a meeting with Bayern's overworked president Beckenbauer, who is also heading Germany's campaign to host the 2006 World Cup finals, Matthaus confirmed he was going. A row between him and injured goalkeeper Kahn, who believes Matthaus should not play for just half a season, spread across the local media and did neither any credit. "Effenberg was our most important player last season," said Henke. "He is so difficult to replace. We will need him for the Champions' League, if he is in the right frame of mind, but I think it is touch and go... "

He did not say so, but it was obvious that Bayern's fragile hopes of European success this season may well be in the same condition thanks to the reverberations of Barcelona.