Football
9y

Philipp Lahm backs Pep Guardiola extension at Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm said he thinks the current talk about coach Pep Guardiola's potential contract renewal issues is completely unfounded.

"This is absolutely no topic," Lahm said of the club's future during an exclusive interview with ESPN FC. "I mean it is one and a half years. We know how long that is in football. I also do not think that is the job of a player to worry about. This is primarily for the coach and the management."

Bayern have said they won't pressure Guardiola to sign a new contract but hope to open talks over an extension later this year.

Guardiola is under contract with Bayern until 2016 and, while CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had said late last year he was keen to prolong his stay, the former Barcelona boss said last month he has no plans to pen a new deal at that stage.

ESPN FC's Raphael Honigstein reported earlier this month that those in charge at Bayern are secretly bracing for his departure at the end of the 2016 season, but Rummenigge said the Bundesliga champions are willing to take a patient approach over the matter.

Lahm said the club are only focused on the Bundesliga season and Tuesday's Champions League first-leg match vs. Shakhtar Donetsk and that the players have complete faith in Guardiola's leadership.

"It is clear that the team enjoys working with the coach, that he is an excellent coach, that he really improved the team more after taking over from a treble and we again won the double," Lahm said. "Seven players then became world champions. Now we are positioned very well again. All this is also a big part because of the coach."

Lahm said Bayern are flexible tactically, but that having many playing options is a good problem to have.

 "As a whole I think that a coach has never an easy task, especially if you have a choice of so many world class players that have already proven in the past that they can play at an absolutely high level in every situation, in every game," Lahm said. "That is already a tough decision for a coach. Who do I bring on the field? Yes, still the coach has to find a mix [to keep] everybody a little bit content then to integrate injured players back 100 percent.

"As a coach, you never have an easy job but I think our coach brings this very well to the point."

The Bundesliga leaders are also on course to win their third championship in a row. No German team has ever been able to win four consecutive league titles, but Guardiola has 18 months left on this contract.

"One thing is certain, the season is very long," Lahm said. "There is no team that plays from the first to the last day at the same constant high level is playing football. There will always be phases where one plays a bit worse. We now had our warning in the game against Wolfsburg and maybe it helped us at the right time."

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