Bayern defeat sparks rumors about Pep exit
Print Edition
FRESH claims linking Pep Guardiola to Manchester City are circulating after Bayern Munich warmed up for its UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg against Barcelona by slumping to a fourth straight defeat.
The Bundesliga champion was beaten 0-1 at home by Augsburg on Saturday, hardly the best preparation for tomorrow’s clash with Barcelona, when the Bavarians must somehow overturn a 0-3 first-leg deficit.
The emphatic defeat at the Nou Camp last week followed an exit from the German Cup semifinals on penalties to Borussia Dortmund and a league loss at Bayer Leverkusen and the current run is the worst of Guardiola’s coaching career.
The morale-sapping Augsburg reverse means Bayern has suffered four defeats in a row for the first time in 24 years and has now failed to score in three consecutive matches for the first time in 15 years.
The Bavarian giants have wobbled since clinching their 25th German championship, but Guardiola, who has so far won 19 titles as a coach at Barcelona and Bayern, has said he will fulfil the final year on his Munich contract which expires in June 2016.
However, there have been new claims that Premier League giant City is negotiating with Guardiola to bring the 44-year-old to the Etihad Stadium to replace Manuel Pellegrini as coach.
Broadcaster beIN Sports tweeted on Saturday that Guardiola has made a verbal agreement to manage City next season. “Guardiola was contacted two months ago by Manchester City and rejected. Contacted again two weeks ago: didn’t accept nor reject, still talking,” beIN sports reporter Tancredi Palmeri added on Twitter.
Guardiola has reportedly been offered 22 million euros (US$32.75 million) a year to help City usurp Chelsea at the top of the English league and give the club the success in the Champions League that its owners so crave.
Reports in England, meanwhile, say that City, whose CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain both used to work at Barcelona, have dismissed suggestions there is any agreement with Guardiola to come to the club in the near future.
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