Ancelotti believes five-star Bayern can win Champions League

Carlo Ancelotti has backed Bayern Munich to compete for this season’s Champions League after the Bundesliga giants thrashed Rostov 5-0 in their Group D opener.

A brace from youngster Joshua Kimmich, combined with goals from Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Juan Bernat, sealed a comprehensive victory for Bayern on Tuesday, with Ancelotti now having won five out of five since taking over at the Allianz Arena – seeing his side score 20 goals without conceding.

And, after becoming the first manager to win a Champions League match with seven different clubs, Ancelotti was quick to heap praise on his side – signalling out Kimmich for particular plaudits.

“I’m happy, we made a good start,” Ancelotti told Sky.

“Win the Champions League? Sure it is possible, our team will be competitive this season, and for the moment everything is fine, but the first objective is to win the group, then we will see the draw.

“It was a great game. We opened the scoring early and then the game was more open for us.

“Kimmich is playing really, really well at the moment. He’s in a great condition and he can play anywhere.

“He is in a very good shape, he’s on a really good run and he’s staying focused. But I have a very good team and it is difficult to compose a starting line-up.”

Kimmich’s double capped off a superb string of performances for the 21-year-old, who followed up his maiden goal for Germany with a first Bundesliga strike against Schalke last Friday, before opening his Champions League account on Tuesday. But he insisted Bayern will not get carried away after their fantastic start.

“I do not know why my shots have started working,” Kimmich told Sky. “So far I did not have much success, I normally scored two or three goals in a season.

“It is difficult to think about winning the Champions League. For now, the team just needs to score points in the championship, and the most important thing is that there is no injuries.”