Bayern ‘a little lucky’ winning Champions League this season – Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has suggested Bayern Munich took advantage of some fortunate circumstances to win the Champions League.
Bayern completed a treble on Saturday when Kingsley Coman’s second-half header secured a 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in Lisbon.
Hansi Flick’s side had already won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, with their domestic season concluding at the start of July, a whole month before the Champions League campaign resumed.
PSG and semi-finalists Lyon had four months without a game as the Ligue 1 season, which was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, did not resume, while clubs such as Barcelona and Manchester City picked up their Champions League campaigns after hectic endings to their domestic seasons.
Liverpool boss Klopp therefore thinks the stars were aligned for Bayern in Europe’s premier club competition, which his club won the previous year.
“It is difficult to write more history in eight months,” he told ZDF of Flick’s remarkable period in charge.
“[Bayern were] a little lucky that, amid all the chaos with schedules, their schedule was best suited to the Champions League.
“At the moment, definitely, one of the absolute, absolute top teams. They are sensationally well equipped.
“They have absolute world-class players in every position and all at the right age.”
Flick was handed the Bayern job, initially on an interim basis, in November when Niko Kovac was sacked.
He then presided over a remarkable end-of-season run, with Bayern winning each of their final 21 games in the 2019-20 campaign.
“Hansi was lucky enough to have done such a good job as assistant coach to Niko Kovac that he was allowed to stay, and that worked quite well,” Klopp added.
“Both finalists had an absolutely top team available. But Bayern wanted it more – although Paris wanted it very much. Paris really wanted it, you could see it.
“Bayern were lucky, but they didn’t need much. And that’s why they deserved to win. It would be nice if you could play the best game of the season in a final, it’s just very unlikely.”
