Ancelotti: Fitness the key for Bayern

Carlo Ancelotti preferred to focus his attention on the physical state of his Bayern Munich squad after their International Champions Cup loss to AC Milan on Wednesday.

Bayern went down 5-3 on penalties at Soldier Field following an entertaining 3-3 draw which saw them come from behind to lead, before requiring a last-minute Franck Ribery spot-kick to earn a shootout.

Rafinha’s saved effort proved key as Milan prevailed, but Ancelotti was not overly concerned with the result against his former employers.

Many of Bayern’s star names – including the likes of Manuel Neuer, Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels – are enjoying a rest following their exploits at Euro 2016, and Ancelotti knows his squad will be a different prospect when his numbers return to full strength.

“We have to continue our work. We have time to prepare the team before we start the official competition,” he said.

“We can use this game to improve our conditioning, to improve our organisation.

“We’re at the beginning, so we made some mistakes but of course we have to wait for all the players when they come back and after that we can prepare our season.

“At this moment, I think the most important thing is the physical condition. We don’t have all the players, but we try to do our style, our play, so the goal is to improve our physical condition.

“In this sense, we are doing well. We didn’t have injuries tonight and we can continue to work, to prepare the next two games here and this is good.”