Bayern Munich's preparations for their Club World Cup campaign may not have been ideal but head coach Hansi Flick will not use a seven-hour travel delay as an excuse against Al Ahly.
Bayern boarded a plane for Doha immediately after Friday's 1-0 victory over Hertha Berlin but did not depart until the following morning after their clearance for take-off was denied.
The European champions eventually left for the Middle East on Saturday morning and were unable to train when arriving at their destination.
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hit out at the local authorities in Berlin for "mucking about" ahead of Monday's semi-final against Al Ahly.
However, Flick's squad were able to train on the eve of the game and the Bayern boss is ready for the showdown with the reigning CAF Champions League holders.
"It's not the best preparation, without question," he said at a news conference on Sunday. "Ultimately, the decisive factor is we arrived safely and won't allow any excuses.
"Of course, it would have been better if we could have arrived sooner. But this morning we did what was planned for yesterday.
"This afternoon we will have the final training session and will prepare the team for tomorrow's game.
"We will go through the same process as every game. We have an analysis department that prepares information on each opponent for us.
"The coaches then do the final preparations. We know that they are very offensive with their full-backs and have an impressive coach, whose approach I like very much."
Bayern are seeking to win the Club World Cup for a second time, having last prevailed in 2013 when beating Raja Casablanca in the final.
They secured a domestic treble last season and lifted the DFL-Supercup and UEFA Super Cup earlier in this campaign, but Flick insists his players are still hungry to win more trophies.
"In football, you set goals and then you move on," he said. "We have won five titles and yet you can tell that the team and the coaching team want to take the next step.
"Success is a process, everyone is involved. We have a very good mentality in the team. They handled the journey very professionally and want to tackle the next goal.
"We really wanted to play the tournament and it is also our goal to win this tournament. We know that it is associated with a certain burden.
"But we want to be motivated and it is a big goal to crown the outstanding season with the sixth title. Our goal is to become the best team in the world.
"The journey yesterday is a thing of the past, we were ready in time. It wasn't nice, but we are looking ahead.
"The team should use all their strength today so that we can win the semi-final tomorrow move into the final."
Bayern made the trip to Doha without midfield pair Leon Goretzka and Javi Martinez, who both recently tested positive for coronavirus.
Opponents Al Ahly knocked out Al Duhail to advance to the semi-finals.
Xabi Alonso 'happy and proud' as Leverkusen boss haunts Bayern with huge Bundesliga win
Xabi Alonso said it was an "incredible" thrill to beat Bayern Munich as the Bayer Leverkusen boss enhanced his growing reputation with Sunday's victory.
Former Bayern midfielder Alonso, who won three Bundesliga titles in a three-year spell with the Bavarians, has turned his hand to coaching since 2017 and dealt his old team a huge blow to their hopes of an 11th successive championship.
Alonso took over at Leverkusen in October, shortly after a 4-0 defeat away to Bayern, and has lifted the team from second-bottom at the time of his arrival to eighth position.
They are just three points off sixth after a 2-1 win over Bayern, who trail Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund by one point with nine rounds of games remaining.
Victory came courtesy of two Exequiel Palacios penalties, after Bayern took the lead through Joshua Kimmich.
Bizarrely, Amine Adli was booked for diving initially in both penalty incidents, before the bookings were rescinded and spot-kicks were awarded.
"The feeling after the game is incredible," said Alonso, quoted on the Bundesliga website.
"We won against one of the best teams in Europe."
His team are also through to the Europa League quarter-finals, with Alonso's first season proving a roaring success so far. They won away to Ferencvaros on Thursday, and following that up by beating the 10-in-a-row German champions was no mean feat.
"I'm very happy and proud that we were able to continue the performance from the Europa League," Alonso said. "It was very important that we equalised. We played with a lot of energy and it wasn't easy."
Referee Tobias Stieler spoke about the penalty incidents and pointed out the value of VAR, thanking the television match official.
"He was my lifesaver – and also the lifesaver for the game," Stieler told DAZN. "In the end, both teams were happy because the right decision was made."
He was glad Adli was not affronted by the decisions that initially went against him.
"The only thing left to do is take it with humour," Stieler said. "We hugged each other during the game and also after the game. Now he promised me the shirt."
Bayern Munich 'inferior in all areas' during Bayer Leverkusen loss, fumes Salihamidzic
Hasan Salihamidzic blasted Bayern Munich as "inferior in all areas" in their loss to Bayer Leverkusen, as the champions slipped up in the Bundesliga title race.
A 2-1 defeat in the final game before the international break saw Julian Nagelsmann's side fail to reclaim top spot a day after losing it to Borussia Dortmund.
With the two sides set to meet in their first game back on April 1, Bayern will enter the crunch clash knowing a second reverse in a row could spell the end of their title defence.
Sporting director Salihamidzic was left fuming by what he perceived as a poor mentality throughout, and felt the visitors deserved nothing at BayArena.
"That's not what Bayern means," he told SPORT1 in discussing the performance. "We missed everything [that we] demanded from a team that won on Thursday. We were inferior in all areas."
"Confidence or not, we have to bring [our] mentality and greed onto the pitch. It is about the championship [race].
"We had two shots on goal in the last few minutes, but [we had] so little drive, [or] mentality, [or] assertiveness. I've rarely experienced that.
"This team is so good when the mentality is right from the start, but [they can be] just as bad when they don't do it and think that they can do everything with [their] quality."
Bayern had won three straight league games after losing to Borussia Monchengladbach last month but will now welcome Dortmund trailing their Klassiker rivals by a point.
Galtier concedes PSG hierarchy will 'reflect' on future after latest humiliating loss
Christophe Galtier knows Paris Saint-Germain's hierarchy will "reflect" on his future after Sunday's dire defeat to Rennes, though he believes their display can be explained by a lengthy injury list.
PSG were booed off at half-time and full-time by a furious home crowd as Karl Toko Ekambi and Arnaud Kalimuendo netted either side of the interval in a routine win for Rennes.
PSG's defeat was their first on home soil in Ligue 1 since April 2021, when Galtier led former club Lille to a 1-0 triumph at the Parc des Princes before beating the Parisians to the title.
While Galtier looks likely to win his second domestic title this term, he has attracted criticism since overseeing a meek Champions League exit against Bayern Munich earlier this month.
Galtier knows PSG's latest humiliation will do nothing to quell speculation regarding his position, telling reporters: "I came for this project for two years, but we speculate on my future.
"My only obsession is to be champion. This match will perhaps cause my management to reflect, but we have to put things in context.
"This match should not call everything into question. There are no excuses but there are reasons. There are 10 matches left, we are ahead in Ligue 1.
"Losses always upset us. Afterwards, everyone has their reading of the game. You have yours and I have mine.
"In the current context, with so many absences – though it is not an excuse – we knew that we would have defensive fluctuations."
As well as long-term absentee Neymar, PSG were without defenders Achraf Hakimi, Presnel Kimpembe, Marquinhos and Sergio Ramos for Sunday's defeat, forcing Galtier to start inexperienced duo El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Timothee Pembele.
Given PSG's selection crisis, Galtier believes criticism of his team's attitude is unjustified, adding: "The players gave everything compared to what they had in their legs.
"You get the feeling that the players didn't give their all, but that's not how I feel.
"When a player walks into the locker room and knows that eight players are missing, and he sees young guys he has only seen once or twice before...
"My players were invested, after going 2-0 down to a team like Rennes, there may be a little resignation. There is a lot of fatigue. These are not excuses, just contextual elements."
PSG have now lost four of their seven Ligue 1 games this season against teams currently in the top five (W2 D1), including two against Rennes (also 1-0 in January).
Rennes are also just the third team to complete a Ligue 1 double over PSG since the club's 2011 takeover by Qatar Sports Investments, after Nancy in 2011-12 and Monaco in 2020-21.
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