Kompany wants Bayern to keep hunger for title
Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany insisted his squad must remain hungry in its quest to regain the Bundesliga crown this season.
Bayern marked its return to league action after the winter break with a 1-0 win over Bourssia Monchengladbach, maintaining a four-point advantage at the summit.
Kompany's side welcomes lowly Hoffenheim to Allianz Arena on Thursday (AEDT), knowing it will finish the first half of the campaign at the top of the table.
This is the 27th time that Bayern has led the Bundesliga at the halfway stage of a season. In 23 of the first 26 instances, it has gone on to win the title, including the past nine in a row.
Munich previously surrendered such a lead in 2011-2012 to Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund, and Kompany warned his players not to let history repeat itself.
"We have been pretty strong. But what I like as a coach is to work on the things we can still improve," Kompany said.
"We have to go in with the same hunger. What you saw in the first part of the season was the hunger of a disappointing season before and that needs to live from now until the end of the season and then into the next season."
Since a 0-1 defeat at Hansa Rostock in December 2001, Bayern is unbeaten in its past 22 Bundesliga games to close the first half of the season, winning 16 and drawing six.
Bayern, which lost to second-placed Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal last month, has suffered only one defeat in the Bundesliga this season.
It also lost its most recent league clash against Hoffenheim. Since the start of the 2016-2017 season, Hoffenheim has won 18 points from 16 top-flight matches against Bayern, with only Monchengladbach gaining more in the same period (20).
"Every time we have an opportunity to perform, we have to show the same hunger, and we have to do it tomorrow against Hoffenheim as well," Kompany said.
"We have no intentions to take one step less, and we want to see if we can push it more."
Kompany also revealed that he could still be without in-form Jamal Musiala for the second straight game, with the German international still recovering from illness.
This season, only Harry Kane (20) has been involved in more goals for Bayern in the Bundesliga than Musiala (11), with the 21-year-old's 23 chances created in the league this term only bettered by Michael Olise (35) and Joshua Kimmich (38).
"Musiala, it is not certain he will be with us tomorrow. We will see tomorrow. If he could even just be in the squad it would be positive for us," Kompany concluded.
