Vincent Kompany does not want Bayern Munich looking past 1. FC Heidenheim, even with Paris Saint-Germain waiting in the Champions League next week. Bayern host Heidenheim on Saturday at 15.30, and Kompany said the club cannot give anything away as the Bundesliga meeting sits in the shadow of a European return leg that may decide much more.
"Wir möchten niemandem etwas schenken," Kompany said as he tried to keep the week pointed at one match at a time. He said his job is to make clear that Bayern must first play this Heidenheim game with 100 percent commitment, and pointed to the 4:3 win in Mainz last week as proof that the side is ready to fight and hurt itself when needed.
The weight of that message is not hard to see. Bayern won the first leg against PSG 4:5 after trailing 2:5 at one point, then turn around and face the return leg in Munich on Wednesday. That makes Saturday a dangerous place for any lapse in concentration, especially with Kompany saying he must persuade the squad that the league match comes first.
Heidenheim arrive with some form of their own. They have won two of their last three matches and still hold faint hopes of escaping the relegation zone. Kompany called it "unglaublich" that the club has been in that position for two years and keeps fighting back at the end of a season, even in a battle that, as he put it, had long seemed lost.
That respect comes with a memory Bayern have not forgotten. Two years ago, Heidenheim beat Bayern 3:2 at home after turning a 0:2 deficit around. Kompany even described the club's habit of rising late in the campaign with the phrase "Frank-Schmidt-Time," a nod to the way Heidenheim have made a reputation for refusing to give in.
The practical question for Bayern is how much Kompany will change with PSG looming. The expectation is that he will rotate personnel, and there are some clear pieces to watch. Tom Bischof is again an option after a muscle fiber tear, while Lennart Karl is rather not an option, although Kompany said there is still a possibility he could be available for Paris. Jonas Urbig will start in goal for Manuel Neuer.
That leaves Bayern trying to hold two truths at once: Saturday's Bundesliga match matters on its own, and Wednesday's European night is the bigger stage. For a team that has already survived a chaotic 4:5 first leg and a frantic 4:3 in Mainz, the test now is not whether it can find intensity. It is whether it can keep that intensity in the right place long enough to avoid a stumble against a Heidenheim side that has made a habit of making life uncomfortable.