Official: Bayern Munich sack Carlo Ancelotti
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Updated 28/09/2017 at 14:35 GMT
Carlo Ancelotti has been sacked following Bayern Munich’s humiliating 3-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Ancelotti 'could be sacked today' as Bayern plan crisis talks
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Bayern looked a shadow of the team that have dominated German football and consistently challenged for the Champions League as they were taken apart by PSG.
It did not help Ancelotti’s cause that he controversially benched senior players Mats Hummels, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
Multiple reports – including the well-sourced Bild – indicated that Bayern had decided to sack Ancelotti after holding crisis talks following their return to the German captial
And the news was confirmed shortly afterwards by the club, who said the decision came after "internal analysis" of the defeat to PSG.
A statement read:
Following an internal analysis in Munich on Thursday 28 September 2017, FC Bayern München have announced the club is to part company with head coach Carlo Ancelotti with immediate effect. Assistant coach Willy Sagnol will take charge of the team on an interim basis.
'Carlo is my friend and will remain so...'
Rummenigge also added in a statement: "Our team’s performances since the start of the season have not met our expectations. The match in Paris clearly showed we had to take immediate action. [Sporting Director] Hasan Salihamidžić and I met Carlo today for full and frank discussions where we informed him of our decision.
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CEO of FC Bayern Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Susanne Hoeness, president of FC Bayern Muenchen Uli Hoeness and team coach Carlo Ancelotti (L-R)
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"I'd like to thank Carlo for his time working with us and I'm sorry about the way it has developed. Carlo is my friend and he will remain so, but we had to take a professional decision in the interests of FC Bayern. I expect the team to produce a positive response and show absolute determination to achieve our targets for the season."
'A very bitter defeat'
Chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge spoke after the PSG defeat and said, ominously:
It was a very bitter defeat. A defeat which must be talked about, which must be analyzed, and from which we must draw consequences. I think what we saw tonight wasn't Bayern Munich. It's important that we turn the tide quickly and present ourselves as Bayern Munich. And then also to show that we're a team that has made a splash in Europe and nationally over the last years, and to return to that.
Bayern chairman Uli Hoeness was thought to have wanted Ancelotti gone, but until recently, Rummenigge had been supportive of the Italian, who was appointed in the summer of 2016 to replace Pep Guardiola.
The result meant Bayern are level with Celtic on three points from two matches in Group B, three points behind leaders PSG, while Bayern are currently third in the Bundesliga having dropped points twice already in six games
Robben was offered the chance to back Ancelotti after the PSG defeat, but declined. Asked if he stood behind his coach, he said: "I won't answer this question."
What next? Sagnol and Tuchel?
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Thomas Tuchel vom BVB
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Ancelotti's assistant Willy Sagnol takes over on an interim basis for now, but Sportbild says that Thomas Tuchel, unemployed after being sacked as Borussia Dortmund manager last season, will be a contender for the full-time job as Rummenigge is known to be an admirer.
However, Hoffenheim's 30-year-old boss Julian Nagelsmann will also surely be part of the conversation, having masterminded Bayern's only Bundesliga defeat of the season and recently admitted in an interview with Eurosport that he would want the job.
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