Bayern Munich's Serge Gnabry: "We're going all out to win the treble again"
Bayern Munich winger Serge Gnabry says that Bayern Munich are not satisfied with win a Bundesliga, DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League treble once as a team, and are going to do all they can to repeat their success from the 2019/20 in the new campaign.
Gnabry and the Bayern squad under the stewardship of Hansi Flick became the second treble-winning side in the club's history, following in the footsteps of the side under Jupp Heynckes from 2012/13.
Despite just a 36-day break since their 1-0 Champions League final win over Paris Saint-Germain in Lisbon, Gnabry and Bayern are ready and raring to start the 2020/21 campaign with a bang against Schalke on 18 September.
Watch: Bayern's 2019/20 treble winners
"We're all very pumped, we're very happy that it's all starting again," Gnabry told FCBayernTV. "Of course, the break was unusually short, but it's still fun to be training again. We have three trophies to defend and on Friday we aim to start well, with three points."
Gnabry, 25, enjoyed the best scoring season of his professional career so far in Bayern's incredible campaign. The Germany international scored 23 goals and added 13 assists in his 46 appearances for the record Bundesliga champions.
It means the VfB Stuttgart youth product made it the four successive seasons with goals scored in double figures in the German top-flight while playing for Bayern, Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen. But Gnabry, as ever, is only looking ahead for more.
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"Of course I try to provide assists as much as I can, as well as score goals," Gnabry explained. "I think the numbers are always something I use as a guide, it's something I want to be better off in next season than I was the season just gone – and these are simply things that motivate me. And so far it's worked out well in both cases."
Gnabry has also been rewarded with his outstanding performances since his first season at the Allianz Arena in 2018/19 with the honour of wearing Bayern's No.7 shirt, formerly worn by the likes of Franck Ribery, Mehmet Scholl and club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
"It's a great honour to wear this shirt number, a number many great players have worn here," Gnabry said. "It's a bit new at the moment. I hope I get used to it very quickly. But there are big boots to fill and I hope I can do so as well as possible."
And both Gnabry and his Bayern teammates are looking to start quickly in the new season. They begin their title defence at home to Schalke on 18 September, with new signing and fellow winger, Leroy Sane, coming up against his former club.
It will be the first game of a potential 57 they could play in the space of just 253 days should they repeat their treble-winning season of last year. Gnabry knows that winning consecutive trebles is an arduous task – a feat never achieved in Men's European football – but that exact challenge is what motivates the Bayern group and their addictive winning mentality.
Watch: All of Gnabry's goals and assists in 2019/20
"We all know that we want to win more trophies as a team, we want to repeat the feeling or the successes," Gnabry said. "It's not that it all worked out last time and we've said 'Okay, that's it, we've done it', but rather we want to do the same thing again.
"I think the prospect of repeating things is more difficult than to just achieve it once, so we want to give our best and have fun defending the treble."
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