Nathaniel Brown says Bayern Munich are winning for head coach Vincent Kompany, who was recently discharged from hospital, following their 6-1 thrashing of Magdeburg in the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday.
'We're winning for Kompany,' says Brown after Bayern's emphatic DFB-Pokal win
Bayern Munich stormed into the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday, with Nathaniel Brown praising the squad's unity in difficult times.
Bayern cruised to victory at Allianz Arena, with Michael Olise starring with a brace, while Brown, Ismael Saibari, Alphonso Davies and David Santos Daiber also got on the scoresheet.
Mateusz Zukowski cancelled out Olise's opener in the 15th minute, but the defending champions quickly regained control, restoring their lead before the break and running riot in the second half.
Olise converted from the penalty spot in the 50th minute before Davies, Brown and debutant Daiber added gloss to the scoreline late on.
"We want to win every game, regardless of the opponent," Brown said.
"We wanted to get through this Pokal tie. We had a good performance and deserved the win. Now we're focusing on Saturday [Der Klassiker]."
With Kompany continuing his recovery from home, Brown also made it clear that the team wants to deliver results for their head coach.
"We're also winning for [Kompany], of course," he added. "It's really good that he's back home now. He should get some rest, but I hope we'll see him again soon."
Wednesday's victory extended Bayern's winning run in the DFB-Pokal to eight matches – their second-longest streak after winning 13 on the trot between August 2018 and October 2020.
They are also now the only team from Europe's top five leagues still yet to taste defeat in 2026-27 (W9 D4).
Bayern have already scored 146 competitive goals in the calendar year 2026 (3.4 per game), which is at least 18 more than any other team from Europe's top five leagues (Barcelona – 128), and Jonathan Tah echoed Brown's sentiments, praising the squad's togetherness amid Kompany's absence.
"It's never easy, even though it looks like it from outside," Tah said.
"Regardless of who's on the pitch, when I look at the players who came on towards the end, Daiber scoring the goal and Binder coming on, it shows that we stick together as a team and that everyone is ready to deliver when called upon.
"That's something you have to work for in training. It makes me happy to see that, despite having players missing and the coach being absent at the moment, we're still able to produce performances like this on the pitch.
"I'd be lying if I said [Kompany's hospitalisation] didn't affect us in some way, because we're all human. Of course, you feel for those affected.
"But ultimately, I think it's about being professional. When you consider what we can do right now to give those who aren't here some positive energy, the answer is to go out on the pitch and show what we showed. I'm pleased that we've managed to do that in each of our last two games."
