For all intents and purposes, Bayern Munich’s season is now done and dusted after a dramatic defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.
Bayern Munich lost the second leg 2-1 after drawing level at 2-2 in the first leg, but the second leg, which was hosted at the Santiago Bernabéu, did not have any shortage of controversial talking points. Bayern very nearly booked their ticket to Wembley in what would have been a rematch of the 2013 final against Borussia Dortmund, who beat Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals this time around.
Once the dust from Bayern’s Champions League exit fully settles, all of the attention will revert back to the club’s ongoing search for a manager to replace Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season. Max Eberl, Christoph Freund, and Bayern’s board have been searching for months, but still have not found the right solution to carry the club forward from next season onward.
In what might offer to be a bit of an uplift for Bayern fans after the Madrid drama, Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg has reported that Hansi Flick is no longer entirely closed off to potentially coming back to be manager of FC Bayern. While there have not yet been any concrete talks between Bayern and Flick as of now, he is ready to open discussions with the club soon.
Flick has been without aa job since being dismissed by the DFB last fall, but all indications in the fallout pointed to him returning to a club job abroad. He was initially linked with becoming Xavi Hernandez’s replacement at Barcelona, but that is no longer on the cards and his options outside of Germany are running thin, just as is Bayern’s list of Tuchel replacement candidates.
A fairytale homecoming to the club he won the Sextuple in the 2019/20 season could prove to be the best option for all parties involved.
Circling Back
Ralf Rangnick looked as if he was going to get the nod as of just a mere week ago, but renewed discussions with Austrian football federation had him choose otherwise. He will now stay on with the Austria national team through 2026. The same fate occurred with Julian Nagelsmann, who was a favorite of Eberl’s, when the former Bayern, RB Leipzig and TSG Hoffenheim manager renewed his contract with the DFB. He will now remain Germany manager through the 2026 World Cup.
Despite denying that honorary Bayern club president Uli Hoeneß had anything to do with his decision to reject Bayern in the end, Rangnick certainly was not too pleased with the fact that he was technically an afterthought behind Nagelsmann and other candidates for Bayern.
All of this, of course, came after it was 100% ruled out that Xabi Alonso would come on to be Tuchel’s replacement. Bayern and Liverpool were seemingly in a two-horse race to try to get the Spaniard for next season, but he ultimately made the decision that he would stay with Bayer Leverkusen next season after what has well and truly been a remarkable season from Die Werkself.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s upcoming Bundesliga tilt against a resurgent Wolfsburg side? Well, we have you covered with our Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show, which is available on Spotify or below: