Bayern Munich is only focused on beating Benfica on Wednesday and is not "thinking too much" about automatic qualification to the last 16.According to their head coach Kompany.

Bayern have lost two and won one of their three games so far and are currently in 23rd place. Under the new format, only teams ranked first to eighth qualify directly for the knockout rounds, while teams ranked ninth to 24th must go through an extra round of play-offs.

"I don't want to think too much. We have to beat Benfica tomorrow, that's our only goal. I don't want to think too much about the format. The point is: we want to win," coach Vincent Kompany told a news conference on Tuesday.

"You might need to win six games to get into the top eight. Three might be enough to get into the play-offs. Of course, my goal is to get into the top eight. We've won one game now, so it's clear what we need in the remaining games," he added.

Bayern had just suffered a shock defeat to Aston Villa and a 4-0 thrashing by Barcelona, ​​but Kompany insisted: "We are confident in our game." A 3-0 win against Union Berlin last weekend showed the team is slowly getting back on track.

"We always make some adjustments tactically. We just want to win at home. The mentality we convey to the players is that we play this game like a final and we want to win every game," he said.

Portuguese midfielder João Palhinha said it was "always special" to play against the team from his hometown of Lisbon. Palhinha began his career at city rivals Sporting Lisbon, where he played until 2022, with spells at Berenices and Braga in between.

"I have a lot of friends there and my family has a lot of Benfica fans, but obviously that was put aside during the game," he said.

"When you play for such a big club, the pressure is there. "We give everything in every game, we want to win every game - that's what makes Bayern Munich such a great club. I have come to the right place and I am proud to be here,” added João Palhinha.