Bayern Munich’s only blips came when it mattered most to Pep Guardiola’s legacy

Despite European exit, the German club are in a 'perfect' position going forward under Carlo Ancelotti.

Pep Guardiola watches on from the dugout during Bayern Munich's Uefa Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid. Andreas Gebert / EPA

Failure will rarely have felt so fulfilling.

Just four days after falling out of the Uefa Champions League, not with a defeat but with a 2-1 win on the night and a draw on aggregate, Bayern Munich should clinch a 26th Bundesliga title on Saturday.

Away at Ingolstadt, a point is required to make Bayern uncatchable by second-placed Borussia Dortmund. The title would be their fourth in succession, an unprecedented sequence in the Bundesliga era.

Yet the word “failure” lingers around the forthcoming verdict on the three-year reign of Pep Guardiola as coach at Bayern.

Yes, his club have dominated their domestic landscape with scarcely an interruption over his 36 months in charge. They still have an opportunity to remind Dortmund, German champions in 2011 and 2012 that the axis has shifted decisively.

Bayern could wave goodbye to Guardiola, who joins Manchester City at the end of next month, with a double if they beat Dortmund in the German Cup final in two weeks time.

But for all that, Guardiola’s principal mission on taking over, in 2013, a club in that held the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the German Cup titles, was success in Europe, and in that respect he has come up short.

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Three successive semi-final losses in the toughest club competition, all three of them against clubs from his native Spain, leave a series of nagging questions and a chronic sense of agony.

Guardiola made strategic mistakes when Bayern conceded five goals against Real Madrid in the semi-final in 2014.

Then a Bayern playing football that was bullishly gung-ho, defending recklessly high up the pitch, conceded five times again in their 180 minutes against Barcelona at the last-four stage the following year.

This time it was different, because Atletico Madrid, their conquerors, are different.

Bayern had almost four-fifths of the possession in the second leg at their Allianz Arena. They may have played some their best football under Guardiola in what was ultimately a losing cause in beating an Atletico who had a 1-0 lead from the Madrid leg. But they failed at key times.

Thomas Muller, left out to much criticism in the first leg, started the second and fluffed a penalty, his fourth unsuccessful spot-kick in 11 recent attempts.

Jerome Boateng, recently back from a long injury layoff, gave the ball away in the lead up to Antoine Griezmann’s goal, the key element in the away-goal equation that sent Atletico to the final in Milan.

These are one-offs, bad luck, though if you peer at the serial semi-final setbacks, there are patterns. Griezmann’s strike was the seventh scored on the counter-attack in three Bayern European Cup semi-final ties under Guardiola.

In short, his Bayern have abandoned some principles of caution in every April and May he has been there, and done so in the fixtures that counted most towards his legacy.

“Titles are statistics, in the end,” Guardiola said after the painful elimination against Atletico.

They are, but when his legacy is assessed, statistics count towards the tally and the European Cup is the conspicuously absent prize.

“Bayern’s future is perfect,” Guardiola said. He was looking beyond the pair of trophies that may come Bayern’s way by May 21st, and to what his successor, Carlo Ancelotti will inherit.

Ancelotti, three times a winner of the Champions League as coach, with AC Milan and Real Madrid, can look forward to taking over a squad who can play beautifully, think on their feet, adapt. Many of the best young Bayern players are contracted long-term: the likes of David Alaba, Manuel Neuer, Muller, Boateng and Javi Martinez.

Moreover, Ancelotti looks set to have another admired central defender, Dortmund’s Mats Hummels added to his roster. Guardiola suffered through a spate of defensive injuries after the new year and the purchase of Hummels would lessen the risk of that, as well as weakening Dortmund, who have developed over the last nine months as muscular challengers.

Ancelotti will hope that the wingers freshly introduced last summer, Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman, progress to fill the imminent gaps left by Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, both getting on.

He will hope that his management style, more relaxed that Guardiola’s will be well received by players stimulated by three years under the perfectionist Pep, but a little exhausted, too.

Player of the week — Paolo Cannavaro

The surname has not always been an advantage. Being the little brother of the last Italian to win the Ballon D’Or, of the last captain to win a World Cup with Italy was to grow up with an impossible act to follow. Paolo Cannavaro, of Serie A surprise-package Sassuolo, also plays in the same position, central defence, as Fabio, his gifted sibling.

Napoli pairing

The footballing Cannavaro brothers were born eight years apart, proud Neapolitans who began their professional careers with Napoli. Fabio moved on, and up, on a career path bound to aspire higher than a Napoli who were relegated from Serie A when he was establishing his reputation as a superb man-marker and tackler. Paolo, who turns 35 next month, followed him into the Napoli first-team and then joined his brother at Parma, where they played in partnership, the younger man the taller, the older one the more assured.

Loyalist

But where Fabio travelled on to Inter Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid and later Al Ahli of Dubai, Paolo carved out a career as a homegrown loyalist. When Napoli returned to Serie A ten years ago, Cannavaro went back. In eight years he played almost 300 Serie A games for the club, captaining them to the Coppa Italia in 2012.

Frustrated

The older Cannavaro won 136 caps for Italy; Paolo, imposing in the air, strong in the challenge, represented his country at under-21 level but was left frustrated in his ambitions to wear the Azzurri at senior level. Only once was he called up by Italy, in the lead-up to Euro 2008 when Italy were world champions. But he never made it off the bench.

Banned

Paolo Cannavaro hit a crisis at the end of December 2012, when he was banned for failing to report an attempt at match-fixing. He was quickly cleared on appeal. But by the middle of the following season he was less sure of his place in the Napoli XI, and sought new opportunities, moving to modest Sassuolo.

Wise head

Sassuolo, promoted for the first time in their history to Italy’s top flight, needed a wise head, and Cannavaro, after joining in January 2014, helped them stay in Serie A. Since then, they have consolidated. They go into tomorrow’s penultimate league match at struggling Frosinone in sixth spot, aiming for a place in next season’s Europa League.

Match of the week - Celtic v Aberdeen

Ronny Deila is determined to leave Celtic with a second Scottish Premiership title in the bag, and has targeted victory over closest rivals Aberdeen tomorrow to secure the trophy.

Deila will leave Parkhead at the end of the season with two successive title wins, the second of which could be rubber-stamped against Aberdeen, who go into the game nine points and 35 goals behind the league leaders with three games to play.

While the title victory is a matter of time, Delia revealed yesterday that captain Scott Brown and defender Dedryck Boyata will miss the remainder remainder of the campaign with hamstring injuries. “His [Brown’s] two hamstrings have inflammation and need rest, there has been too much load over a long time,” Deila said.

The Norwegian is keen to tie up the title against Aberdeen. “I have three games left at Celtic and after that there is going to be a good vacation and we will see what happens in the future,” he said.

“I am really looking forward to Sunday, hopefully there will be a lot of people in the stadium for a game featuring the two best teams in Scotland.

“We will do everything we can to get three points.”

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