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April 28, 2017

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No double for Bayern

Source: AFP | 00:01 UTC+8 April 28, 2017 | Print Edition

CARLO Ancelotti insisted he is focussed on wrapping up the Bundesliga before assessing how successful his first season at Bayern Munich has been following a shock German Cup semifinal defeat.

April has been little short of a disaster for Ancelotti and Bayern.

The German champion threw away a 2-1 lead at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday before going down 2-3 to Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund takes on Eintracht Frankfurt in the May 27 final in Berlin.

That came a week after the Bavarian giant was dumped out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarterfinal stage by Real Madrid.

Bayern remains on course for a fifth straight Bundesliga, though, and Ancelotti refused to try summing up his first campaign in Munich with four league matches still to play and five more points needed to wrap up the title.

“It’s too soon for that,” said Ancelotti. “We have to now make things clear in the championship (German league) as quickly as possible.”

Bayern was 13 points clear in the Bundesliga on April 1 and still on course to repeat its 2013 treble of domestic double and UCL.

Exiting both the UCL and the cup before the final amounts to a poor season by Bayern’s lofty standards.

“This is not the right time to talk about the future, but now we have to lick our wounds in peace and that hurts,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Ancelotti’s job is not yet under threat, but his first season compares unfavorably with predecessor Pep Guardiola. The current Manchester City boss reached the UCL semifinals and landed the double in his first season, repeating the feat in his last campaign a year ago, too.

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