Argirios Giannikis: "We are not far away..."

The Greek coach of FC Magdeburg on the upcoming DFB Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich

The Greek coach spoke to the press ahead of the semi-final clash against giants FC Bayern Munich

FC Magdeburg's Greek coach, Argirios Giannikis, has stated that his team is not far off the level of their upcoming DFB Cup semi-final opponents, FC Bayern Munich. The fourth-tier side will host the Bundesliga giants on Wednesday, and Giannikis is confident that his team can cause an upset.

"We are not far away from Bayern," Giannikis said. "We have a good team, and we are playing with a lot of confidence. We know that it will be a difficult game, but we are ready for it."

Giannikis knows all about Bayern's strength, having played for the club during his career. The Greek defender made over 100 appearances for Bayern between 1998 and 2003, and he won the Bundesliga title three times with the club.

"Bayern is a great team," Giannikis said. "They have a lot of quality, and they are always the favourites to win the Bundesliga. But we are not afraid of them. We are going to go out there and play our game."

Magdeburg will be without their top scorer, Baris Atik, for the game. The Turkish striker has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season, but he is suspended for the semi-final.

"It is a blow to lose Baris," Giannikis said. "But we have other players who can step up. We are confident that we can score goals against Bayern."

Magdeburg are the only fourth-tier side left in the DFB Cup this season. They have already knocked out two Bundesliga sides, Fortuna Dusseldorf and Mainz. Giannikis believes that his team can make it three Bundesliga scalps in a row.

"We have already shown that we can compete with the big teams," Giannikis said. "We are not going to be intimidated by Bayern. We are going to go out there and give it our all."