Ancelotti defiant in the face of Effenberg criticism

Carlo Ancelotti insists he is not in fear of losing his job after former Bayern Munich captain Stefan Effenberg claimed the Italian could be on the way out. 

Effenberg suggested the club’s patience may wear thin if Bayern fail to improve on last season, which did include a fifth successive Bundesliga title but also yielded their earliest Champions League exit since 2010-11.

Pre-season losses to Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter, Liverpool and Napoli have added to the sense that Bayern have lost momentum, but Ancelotti – who oversaw a DFL-Supercup win on penalties against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday – is not concerned, despite taking additional flak from an unimpressed Dietmar Hamann of late.

“There are a lot of critics, but as I said, no pressure for me,” Ancelotti said at a media conference ahead of this weekend’s DFB-Pokal match against third-tier Chemnitzer. “The pressure is for the game. I like to be here, I like my club, I like my players, I like my supporters.

“Everyone can have his opinion in football. I cannot say to Effenberg or Hamman ‘you are wrong’, because in football there is no truth – everyone can have his opinion.

“In football there is no one thing good, another thing wrong. You have to respect the opinion.

“For sure, I’m not under pressure from these critics, because there are critics, but from the other side there are the opinions of the people who are with you. It’s a balance.”