Vincent Kompany could switch up his Bayern Munich side for Saturday's trip to Mainz with an eye on next week's Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain, but insisted this weekend's Bundesliga match is "no warm-up."
Bayern were confirmed as Bundesliga champions with last weekend's win over Stuttgart and on Wednesday beat Bayer Leverkusen to secure their place in the DFB-Pokal final on May 23.
With the league title wrapped up, they can afford to have more than half an eye on Tuesday's trip to the French capital for the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against PSG.
Kompany admitted he could be tempted to rest some players against a Mainz side winless in their last three games, but insisted he would treat the fixture with respect as Bayern look to extend a winning run which has reached eight games in all competitions.
"The Mainz game is no warm-up but a Bundesliga fixture," he said. "We want all three points. I believe [Mainz head coach] Urs Fischer would do the same thing in my position. It could be that there are changes as we manage workload.
"The important thing is that we're ready to play our best.
"But if that doesn't work because Mainz is a very tough away game, then we also need to be ready to fight. I want to field players who don't need to be concerned about things because they're fresh.
"Everyone wants to play their role in the coming weeks, but the priority now is Mainz and making sensible decisions."
- The numbers behind Harry Kane's record-breaking Bundesliga season for Bayern Munich
- Soccer's 2025-26 Watchability rankings, from Bayern Munich to Wolves
While Kompany wants to be careful when it comes to handling his players' physical workloads, he admitted much of the challenge is mental when there is a big fixture on the horizon.
"We're all people," he said. "We had a similar situation a few weeks ago with the two Madrid games. They're so big you can't not think about them. I'll never make that claim. But I can be a role model as coach.
"How do we prepare? What do I say? I can make good decisions to an extent, not ignore the big goal but also have no fear bringing fresh players in to push the fight. It's no different from the whole season. That was the mentality all season. That won't change now."
Teenager Lennart Karl remains out with a hamstring injury but has stepped up his recovery, although Kompany is reluctant to rush him back.
"Muscular injuries are different than pains," he said. "They're a part of football. With muscular injuries there's a way of handling things. Maybe you can come back a couple of days earlier if things go well. But you can't expect miracles."