Bayern eye historic fourth title on Guardiola’s swansong

Guardiola has a year left to run on his contract and has been repeatedly touted as a potential successor to Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City. Photo BY AFP BERLIN.Bayern Munich kicked off the Bundesliga season at home to Hamburg yesterday with the Bavarians bidding for a historic fourth league title and Pep Guardiola tight-lipped over his future.Bayern’s head coach is about to start the third and final season of his contract and will reveal his future plans over the course of the campaign. Global broadcaster BeIN Sport insists he has already signed a four-year deal to join Manchester City for the 2016/17 season, while Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is eager to extend Pep’s stay.Bayern’s senior figures regularly claim the Bundesliga title remains the priority each season, but Guardiola was brought in to bring Champions League glory to the Bavarians. Having exited the semi-finals at the hands of Real Madrid, then Barcelona in their two seasons under Guardiola, Bayern bosses hope it will be a case of third-time lucky this term.Whatever Guardiola decides, Bayern will have to adjust to life without midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has quit Bayern after 13 seasons for another famous red shirt at Manchester United. Munich are the big favourites to win the German league again and become the first to win a fourth-straight crown.But Guardiola’s men have lost six of their last eight competitive fixtures, including defeat to last season’s runners-up VfL Wolfsburg on penalties in Germany’s Super Cup. There were no surprises in Sunday’s 3-1 win at fifth-tier Noettingen in the first round of the German Cup, though.New signing Arturo Vidal gave the visitors an early lead and after the hosts pulled level, Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski scored for Bayern.“It was a good test for the Bundesliga opener on Friday,” said Goetze.“We are prepared for the season, we’re in good spirits and we’re looking forward to it.”

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