Leon Goretzka named Bayern’s January player of the month, says he embraces the pressure

It should come as no surprise that Leon Goretzka has been named Bayern Munich’s player of the month for January. The midfielder has had a bright start to 2019, having scored four goals from Bayern’s first three matches of the Rückrunde against Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, and Bayer Leverkusen. Goretzka has started to establish himself as one of the first names to go on Niko Kovac’s team sheet in the midfield, whether Kovac decides to go with a dual or triple pivot in the middle.

Highlights of Goretzka’s January:

Moving forward, Goretzka also said he embraces the pressure on the squad to deliver results as Bayern continue to compete on three fronts. They have a difficult midweek test in the DFB-Pokal at Hertha Berlin, who already handed Bayern a 2-0 defeat earlier this season at the Olympiastadion. Such pressure, Goretzka admitted, helps him stay sharp and it’s something he fully expected to experience on a regular basis moving to Bayern from Schalke (via FCBayern.com):

I like this pressure. That’s also why I came here. Under these circumstances, if you get it right, you can improve. That’s exactly the kind of game it’ll be on Wednesday.

When he was asked about his current goal-scoring form, the 23-year-old midfielder perfectly illustrated his team first attitude:

Of course I’m happy to be able to help the team with my goals, and I’d like to continue to do the same. Nevertheless, I would prefer if that ran parallel to the team’s success. Sure, we won some games before then [loss at Bayer Leverkusen], things were going well, but a game like the one in Leverkusen does set you back a bit,

This is the kind of discipline and humility you love to see from any young player, let alone a Bayern Munich player:

We truly cannot wait to see both Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich grow into true leaders of this team. Both players possess the necessary attitudes to keep this team going in the right direction with the balance of discipline and passion that they have.