After spending ten days training in Dubai and playing a warm-up match, Bayern finally returned to Europe and headed to Basel, Switzerland.
Basel's head coach was Fink.
Not the Fink who dissected animals, nor the miner Fink who excavated lava, but a defensive midfielder.
He had played for Bayern from the late 1990s into the early 2000s and helped the team win the Champions League, but his presence within the squad had been rather insignificant. He had not even made the German national team during its low point. It was likely that quite a few of Bayern's newer fans had never even heard of him.
However, after transitioning into coaching, he had done quite well. He had previously been dismissed by second-tier club Ingolstadt because of poor results, but after taking charge of Basel, the Swiss Super League side had performed impressively. Fink's coaching ability and tactical ideas had also been proven.
Fink's coaching style was very similar to that of Bayern's former manager Hitzfeld. It was said that after retiring, he had often sought advice from Hitzfeld. Later, when Hitzfeld coached the Swiss national team, he strongly recommended Fink to Basel. It was precisely because of Hitzfeld's recommendation that the relatively inexperienced Fink had been able to coach a Swiss Super League powerhouse like Basel.
Now, Fink's coaching career could be said to have entered the fast lane. As long as he maintained his current form, coaching in the Bundesliga would be no problem, and he might even get the chance to take charge of a major club.
Hitzfeld had personally attended Bayern's warm-up match against Basel.
For this warm-up match, Bayern had not fielded all its main players. In the first half, they had merely arranged for rotation and substitute players to take the field. Their performance had