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LONDON — Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says Bayern Munih have the best and most popular coach in world football today and, after Pep Guardiola, inspired his men to a 2-0 win over Arsenal, the Bavarian giants are on course to become the first team to defend the Champions League.
“In England, there are many good coaches and I like Arsene,’ said the German.
“We were very close in the 1990s to signing him. He was managing Monaco. We were in discussions to bring him to Munich but he decided to go to Tokyo.’
As it was, they needed 13 subsequent appointments before landing the man they believe can inspire a dynasty.
If Bayern’s spectacular treble-winning campaign last year increased interest in them across Europe, Guardiola’s arrival in the summer sent their appeal soaring.
Since they completed three European Cup wins in a row in 1976, they have been erratic in the tournament that matters most to them, adding only two more triumphs, in 2001 and 2013.
Guardiola, Rummenigge explains, has been drafted in to change that.
“In the past, we have had good seasons, maybe winning the double or, like in 2001, the Champions League,’ said Bayern’s chief executive.
“But the year after has always been difficult for us. The players were never motivated. “We have never won an important title (in the year after the triumph), except those teams in the 1970s. When I came here in 1974, the team just used to get motivated for the big games. For the Bundesliga, for the domestic cup games, they were never motivated.
“We had times in the league where we finished in 10th and 11th. Bad years. We had good years internationally because the players had the spirit and concentration to be focused. But now we have Pep.
“He is obsessed about football, always thinking, “What can I do new?” to surprise the opponents — or to surprise his own team. “That I believe is very interesting. I have been in professional football for 40 years but I have never had a coach like him. He is completely different. We have had good coaches in the past, very successful ones. He is a different story in the positive sense.
“The club are very stable off the pitch but we don’t want to be going up and down, as we had been over the last 10-15 years.
“We want to go like Barcelona. Every year they were arriving in semi-finals, final of the Champions League — many times winning it. I said that is our aim.
“I told him we didn’t want to wait 12 years to win it again. I believe he is the right guy. I can tell you we are very happy with him.”
Rummenigge paints a picture of a coach devoted to bettering himself and those around him; a man who is never inclined to sit back and enjoy the moment of a big triumph, someone who is constantly seeking an edge. When Bayern dismantled Borussia Dortmund 3-0 this season, Guardiola amazed Rummenigge and the rest of his club’s technical committee by burying his head in a laptop on the flight home and studying the game.
While the rest of those on the plane were jubilant after a victory that effectively put the Bundesliga’s destiny in their hands, Guardiola barely looked up, never mind spoke, as he plotted the next assignment.
His intensity is unrelenting, his focus is never lost. This, then, is where Guardiola will come into his own. Bayern are coasting towards the Bundesliga title — they have won 19 and drawn two of their 21 matches and enjoy a 16-point advantage over Bayer Leverkusen — but the Champions League is what drives everyone on in Bavaria. Rummenigge said: ‘We had a good coach with Jupp Heynckes but we had on the table whether to stay with Heynckes or go with someone else. We discussed it intensively — Uli Hoeness, Matthias Sammer, the finance director Jan-Christian Dreesen and me.”— Mailonline.
Online Reporter