Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked as head coach of Bayern Munich yesterday following a series of poor results, the defending Bundesliga champions announced.
The 44-year-old only took charge in July last year, but recent poor results have seen Bayern crash out of the Champions League after a 4-0 hammering at Barcelona, while Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Schalke left them third in the German league.
Former Bayern trainer Jupp Heynckes will take over as head coach for the remaining five league games, with Hermann Gerland as his assistant.
Klinsmann, who along with assistant coaches Martin Vasquez and Nick Theslof, will leave with immediate effect, was told of the decision in a meeting with Bayern team manager Uli Hoeness and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge yesterday.
Having guided Germany to third at the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann’s Bayern contract had been until June 30 next year, but he only lasted 10 months in his first role in charge of a domestic team and lost seven of his 29 league games.
The first signs of trouble came last September when Werder Bremen embarrassed Bayern 5-2 in front of their own fans at Munich’s Allianz Arena in the Bundesliga.
And having been knocked out of the German Cup 4-2 by Bavarian neighbors Leverkusen in March, dreams of repeating last season’s domestic League, Cup and League Cup treble quickly faded.
The alarm bells rang in earnest when Bayern were hammered 5-1 at Wolfsburg on April 4 in the Bundesliga before being routed 4-0 by Barcelona at the Nou Camp four days later in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
And Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Schalke was the final straw as Rummenigge refused to speak to reporters when leaving.
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