Julian Nagelsmann expressed his desire to see Robert Lewandowski receive a warm welcome on his Bayern Munich return, as he backed the striker to continue his fine start to life at Barcelona.
Lewandowski, who scored 238 Bundesliga goals during an eight-year spell with the Bavarian giants before heading to Camp Nou in July, has made a scintillating start to his Barcelona career.
The Poland international has scored six goals in his first five outings in LaLiga, and turned on the style with a hat-trick in Barca's 5-1 Champions League thrashing of Viktoria Plzen last week.
Lewandowski will make a swift return to Munich with his new club for Tuesday's huge Champions League fixture, and despite the less-than-amicable nature of his departure, Nagelsmann believes he should be received warmly.
"If I see him before [the game] then I'm certainly going to give him my hand. I'm not sure if I'll see him beforehand, usually I don't," Nagelsmann said.
"I'm looking forward to our fans welcoming him back. When a player has been so strong for the team over the years, I think it's important.
"He was an important part of the Bayern family. We had a personal exchange a couple of weeks back, not regarding football. I am looking forward to seeing him again."
Asked about Lewandowski's start to life in Spain, Nagelsmann added: "I think he can still continue to play at that level for a couple of years, I'm not sure how many goals he can score this season, I'm no genie.
"I think it will be plenty. He has scored 40 plus usually, so I think he can do that in the Spanish league as well.
"I'm not sure if he's the most dangerous, but he's certainly one of their most dangerous players, the one that can score the most goals. They have great solutions there.
"Lewandowski always has great runs and positions inside the box. He's the most dangerous in front of goal, but if he doesn't get a lot of balls, it's difficult [for him]."
Having coached Lewandowski when he brought up a half-century of goals in all competitions last term, Nagelsmann is acutely aware of his talents, and believes Dayot Upamecano's past experiences of facing him could aid Bayern.
"I have plenty of positions that I'm already pretty clear on," Nagelsmann added. "Upamecano has memories of playing against Lewandowski, back when he was at RB Leipzig. He knows him from our practice as well."
While Upamecano is set to start at the Allianz Arena, Leon Goretzka will not, as Nagelsmann looks to ease the midfielder in following his injury lay-off.
"The position next to Joshua [Kimmich] is going to be [Marcel] Sabitzer," Nagelsmann said.
"I've had a chat with Leon, it was my decision to keep him on [against Stuttgart on Saturday]. We decided to keep him on for 94 minutes, that was a long time for him after the injury. He reacted well to it and is feeling good.
"Him having to play from the start is not going to happen, we need him for the whole season and don't want to give him too many minutes at the start."
Meanwhile, Barcelona have suffered eight Champions League defeats to Bayern – twice as many as they have lost against any other opponent (4 vs Milan, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain).
Bayern also boast a 100 per cent record against the Blaugrana in the group stages and beat them twice in the competition last term, but Nagelsmann is keen to draw a line under those past meetings.
"We know Barcelona. They have a completely new mindset. You can delete the last few games against Barca from your memory, it's a whole different team, very aggressive," he said. "It reminds us of when Xavi still used to play himself.
"In Gavi and Pedri they have great number eights that have great pressing actions as well. There's a great development there for the team, Xavi did a few things really well in the last weeks and months.
"They want to attack in a new way, and they're going to be very difficult opponents tomorrow."
Birmingham 3-1 Wrexham: Stansfield brace hands hosts Hollywood derby bragging rights
Jay Stansfield struck either side of half-time to give 10-man Birimingham a huge 3-1 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Wrexham on Monday.
A game dubbed the 'Hollywood derby' was given a blockbuster start when Jack Marriot smashed home the opening goal for the visitors with just two minutes on the clock.
But Birmingham's £10million recruit Stansfield soon levelled the scores, being the first to react to Alfie May's effort that was parried into his path by Arthur Okonkwo.
The hosts then took hold of the encounter as May and Taylor Gardner-Hickman went close, but the game entered the break finely poised at St. Andrew's.
However, Blues' dominance prevailed seven minutes after the restart with Stansfield's header picking out the far corner following Alex Cochrane's pinpoint cross.
And the points were sealed just before the hour-mark in stunning fashion as Tomoki Iwata's strike from distance smashed in off the post, much to the delight of minority owner Tom Brady in the stands.
A fiesty conclusion to proceedings saw Chris Davies' side end the game with a man less after Krystian Bielik was shown a second yellow card for a late tackle on Andrew Cannon, but Birmingham were able to hold on for the win.
Data Debrief: The American dream
Much was made of Birmingham's approach to the transfer window after spending £25m in their attempts to return the Championship at the first time of asking, but their biggest investment proved his worth on Monday.
Stansfield notched his first two goals for the club since his permanent switch from Fulham, but the Blues striker also played a starring role in the encounter.
He registered an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.12 to Birmingham's 1.3 total, while he also produced more shots on target (three) and touches in the opposition box (six) than any other player.
Barcelona dealt injury blow with Olmo out for five weeks
Barcelona confirmed that Dani Olmo has been sidelined for up to five weeks with a hamstring injury.
The 26-year-old appeared to suffer muscle discomfort after scoring in Sunday's 4-1 league win at Girona and was substituted in the 61st minute.
Olmo, who signed from RB Leipzig for €55million, missed the first two games of their season due to registration issues but has played in all three since.
He has netted three goals in those appearances, with only Robert Lewandowski netting more so far (four).
Olmo's injury is a blow to Hansi Flick's side as they begin their Champions League campaign against Monaco on Thursday, having already made a perfect start to LaLiga, with five wins from five.
The Spaniard is set to miss at least six games up to the October international break.
Flick hails 'outstanding' Yamal after Girona double
Hansi Flick heaped praise on Barcelona's teenage sensation Lamine Yamal after he scored a double to help the LaLiga leaders earn a 4-1 victory at Girona on Sunday.
Yamal, who grabbed the spotlight as he helped Spain win their fourth European Championship title in July, scored twice in seven first-half minutes to put them in control.
Dani Olmo and Pedri then secured the win before Cristhian Stuani's consolation and Ferran Torres' late sending-off for a reckless challenge.
Barcelona maintained their unbeaten start to the season, getting their fifth consecutive win at the start of Flick's tenure.
"I'm very happy about Lamine's two goals, he's very young, but he's really incredible, a difference maker at such a young age," Flick told Movistar Plus.
"Having him is key for us not only because of his quality, but he also presses very well high. He combines talent and pressure and that's massive for us. He is outstanding.
"It was a tough game. Girona played well, but we started very well too, and we deserved to win."
Flick's Barcelona top the LaLiga standings with 15 points, four ahead of Real Madrid and Villarreal. Last year's surprise package, Girona, are seventh with seven points.
Barca avenged their two losses to Girona last season, both by a 4-2 result.
It was a dominant performance by the Catalan giants, whose relentless high press was too much for their opponents to handle as they had 20 shots (nine on target), outperforming their 1.82 expected goals.
Now, Barcelona will hope to carry their domestic momentum into the Champions League, where they will face Monaco away on Thursday.
"We have trained very hard for this, and we need to keep going. This last week we have prepared well, but we do it for every game we play because we always want to win, we are in a good moment, and we can't stop," Flick added.
"It won't be easy against Monaco, but we're taking it one game at a time, and we're really excited. We're all looking forward to it."
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