Bayern live up to FC Hollywood tag

Nagelsmann misinterpreted, not after Ancelotti’s job

BERLIN, Sept 14, (RTRS): Bayern Munich are again living up to their FC Hollywood tag, as a combination of lacklustre performances, public disagreements and talk of a successor to coach Carlo Ancelotti has provided an abundance of early-season drama.

Bayern’s start to the season has not been particularly bad with two wins and a defeat in the Bundesliga, and a 3-0 win over Anderlecht in the Champions League on Tuesday.

But expectations are so high at the Bavarian club that even a minor slipup, or failure to score five or six goals against supposedly inferior opponents, causes headlines.

Forward Thomas Mueller was the first to wash his laundry in public when he complained about being left out of the starting line-up for the match against Werder Bremen three weeks ago.

Then it was Robert Lewandowski’s turn. In a magazine interview, the Polish forward criticised Bayern’s refusal to match the huge transfer fees splashed out by the likes of Paris St Germain and Barcelona.

Rummenigge, like Hoeness a former Bayern player, said the club had a “serious and successful philosophy that has brought us big success.” He regretted Lewandowski’s comments.

Hoffenheim’s coach Julian Nagelsmann inadvertently stirred things up further by giving a television interview where he said that coaching Bayern would make him even happier than he was now and that his wife and children were planning to move to Munich.

As German media talked of flirtation, Nagelsmann said in a subsequent statement that he had been misinterpreted and was not after Ancelotti’s job.

Hoffenheim’s German head coach Julian Nagelsmann arrives for a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Europa League group stage match Hoffenhein vs Sporting Braga in Zuzenhausen, southern Germany on Sept 13. (AFP)