Joshua Kimmich insists Bayern Munich will want to "send a message" in their final Champions League group game against Inter, despite it being a dead rubber.
Bayern secured top spot in Group C last week with a 3-0 win at Barcelona, while Inter confirmed second place prior to that with a 4-0 victory at home to Viktoria Plzen.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the clash at the Allianz Arena, Kimmich emphasised the importance for the Bundesliga side to maintain their recent high standards, even with nothing riding on the outcome of the game.
"The coach has addressed it already," he said. "We need to send a message to ourselves and our opponents. We want to play freely and have fun out on the pitch, like we have [been doing] lately. We want to win the game in order to send a message."
Bayern are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions (W8 D1) but despite being on course to win all six of their games in a tough Champions League group, Kimmich believes they cannot be considered favourites to go all the way until the competition resumes next year.
"In February, March and April, it will be decided who the favourites are," he said. "We are proud that we won our group, a very difficult group. It's remarkable that we topped it before the final matchday."
Head coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted he will look to partially rotate his team against Inter, with this one of four games they still have to play before breaking for the World Cup in less than two weeks.
"We will rotate," he said. "How many changes we make depends on how things go today and tomorrow. We won't take any risks, after all, the last few weeks have been very intense."
The former RB Leipzig boss added the game will come too soon for the likes of Leroy Sane, Lucas Hernandez, Thomas Muller, Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Neuer, though did add the goalkeeper - who has not played since the 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund on October 8 - could be back for the weekend, putting to rest concerns Neuer might not make the World Cup.
"We're hoping Manu will return this weekend," he said. "He had no issues during and after training today. We will need to wait and see."
Mitrovic clinches last-gasp success for Saudi Pro League champions Al-Hilal
Aleksandar Mitrovic produced a last-gasp winner for Al-Hilal as the Saudi Pro League champions signed off with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Al-Wedha on Monday.
Jorge Jesus' side finished the league campaign unbeaten across the 34-game season, though needed late heroics from top scorer Mitrovic to snatch all three points.
Mohamed Kanno opened the scoring for the visiting champions in the first half but Yahya Naji's second-half leveller pegged Al-Hilal back at King Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium.
Yet Mitrovic provided the decisive moment in the 92nd minute, converting a Mohammed Al Burayk assist for his 28th league goal of the season.
The Serbia international ranks only behind Cristiano Ronaldo in this campaign's scoring charts, after the Al-Nassr forward claimed a piece of Saudi League history in a 4-2 victory over Al-Ittihad.
Ronaldo moved past Abderrazak Hamdallah's 34-goal tally – in the 2018-19 season – after his deadly double took him to 35 strikes and broke the single-season scoring record in the competition.
Victory for Al-Nassr means they finish second behind the impressive Al-Hilal, while Al-Ahli had already secured third in the standings before their 1-0 victory over Al-Fayha.
Roberto Firmino scored the only goal of the game in that narrow triumph, finding the net after 85 minutes at Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium.
At the other end of the table, Abha Club – who had Marcel Tisserand sent off late on – suffered heartbreak on the final day after losing 2-1 to bottom-placed Al-Hazem to seal their relegation.
Ahmed Abdu opened the scoring to boost Abha's survival hopes but second-half goals from Muhammed Badamosi and Mohammed Al Thani proved their undoing.
Al-Akhoud beat the drop after overcoming Al-Tai, who went down with Abha and Al-Hazem, 2-0 thanks to goals from Saviour Godwin and Leandre Tawamba at Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium.
Al-Nassr 4-2 Al-Ittihad: Ronaldo breaks Saudi Pro League scoring record in final-day win
Cristiano Ronaldo claimed a piece of Saudi Pro League history after scoring twice in Al-Nassr's 4-2 final-day victory over 10-man Al-Ittihad on Monday.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was on target in either half at Al Awal Park, moving to 35 goals across the 2023-24 league campaign in Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time after receiving a long ball from Mohammed Al-Fatil, before doubling his tally – and Al-Nassr's lead – with a header from Marcelo Brozovic's corner.
That second finish after Suwailem Al Manhali was dismissed for the visitors saw Ronaldo eclipse Abderrazak Hamdallah's 34-goal tally – in the 2018-19 season – for the most strikes in a single campaign.
Abdulrahman Ghareeb then added another from the penalty spot before Meshari Al Nemer made sure of three points after late goals from Farhah Al Shamrani and Fabinho had pulled Al-Ittihad back into contention.
Having already been unable to stop Al-Hilal secure the title, Al-Nassr finish second in the table – ending on 82 points after 26 wins from the 34-match campaign.
Data Debrief: Al-Nassr dominance pays off
Much will be made of the record-breaking Ronaldo, who has scored 50 goals in as many games across all competitions this season.
Yet Al-Nassr were dominant from the off in this one, mustering nine shots on target to Al-Ittihad's three, while accumulating 2.73 expected goals (xG) – far superior to the visitors' 1.43 xG.
Germany hungry for Euro 2024 success with 'unbelievable optimism', says Voller
Germany will head into hosting Euro 2024 with an "unbelievable optimism" of lifting the UEFA trophy on home soil.
That was the message from Germany sporting director Rudi Voller, who backed Julian Nagelsmann's team to succeed on their own turf when the tournament starts on June 14.
The three-time European champions have crashed out of the World Cup in the group stages at the last two competitions, as well as a last-16 exit to England at the delayed Euro 2020.
Yet Voller believes Germany have a chance to do something special under Nagelsmann, after watching two impressive friendly victories over France and Netherlands back in March.
"A key moment in our development was the last two [friendly] matches in March," Voller told a news conference on Monday, as Germany started their short training camp in Thuringia.
"We realised that after three and half months [under Nagelsmann] we had two convincing wins and in the inner circle there was more optimism.
"Unbelievable optimism. We don't need to go crazy that now everything works but we should have a measure of optimism."
Germany open the tournament against Scotland before facing Hungary and Switzerland in Group A.
Nagelsmann's team will warm up for the European Championship with friendly preparations against Ukraine next Monday and Greece four days later.
With preparations hotting up before the Euros heads to Germany, Voller insists the hosts can go deep into the tournament.
"Through those two international matches we want to be part of the group that are there until the end," he added.
"We have a home tournament. We should have the optimism to go very far and if it is Berlin [for the final] in the end, even better."
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