Pressure on Guardiola

Guardiola.
The 42-year-old ex-Barcelona boss takes office as Bayern trainer on June 26 as Heynckes ends his two-year tenure as Munich coach after Saturday’s German Cup final in Berlin against VfB Stuttgart.

Bayern’s 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in Saturday’s Wembley final gave the Bavarians their first Champions League crown since 2001 having lost last season’s finale in Munich.

The hurt of defeat to Chelsea on penalties at their own Allianz Arena stadium drove Bayern to win this season’s Bundesliga in emphatic style.

Having broken or equalled 25 league records, Bayern will become the first German team to win the treble if they add the German Cup to the European and league titles. Potential victory at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium — Bayern’s 45th of the season — is seen by the players as a fitting finale for Heynckes before stepping down, most likely into retirement.

“We want to keep going to the end of the season and win the cup as well for the boss,” said Bayern midfielder Thomas Mueller.

“He has had an incredible career and this would be the perfect way to end it.”
Heynckes has said Guardiola can lead Bayern to “embark on an era in European football”, but after the club dropped just 11 Bundesliga points all season, the Spaniard will be expected to continue in the same vein. He has some tough choices to make deciding who to leave out of his first-choice side.

Part of Bayern’s success has been driven by the fierce competition for places and the arrivals of Dortmund’s Germany star Mario Goetze, and possibly Robert Lewandowski, will not ease the tension.

“My successor will, of course, be able to take over a perfectly functioning team,” said Heynckes, who won his second Champions League title after winning with Real Madrid in 1998.

“As far as I know, Mario Goetze will be joining Bayern Munich and I don’t think Lewandowski will be hanging about too much either, and then, of course, you’ve got two top attackers as well.” — AFP.