Rosler: Bayern are dominating Europe

Bayern Munich are the dominant force in European football and can reach yet another UEFA Champions League final this season, Uwe Rosler feels.

Pep Guardiola’s team have already wrapped up a third consecutive Bundesliga title and face the Spaniard’s former club Barcelona in a mouth-watering Champions League last-four tie.

Since the turn of the decade, Bayern have competed in three Champions League finals – losing in 2010 and 2012 before beating Borussia Dortmund in 2013 – and were knocked out by eventual winners Real Madrid in last season’s semis.

And ex-Nuremburg, Kaiserslautern and Manchester City striker Rosler thinks that such a record, coupled with their supremacy in Germany and willingness to make bold decisions at board level, proves the Bavarian giants are ahead of the rest on the continent.

“Bayern Munich is a big team with a big manager and obviously the previous manager [Jupp Heynckes] – Bayern Munich is at the moment in a decade of football where they are, in my opinion, dominating European football,” Rosler told Perform at the Sporting Directors’ Summit at the Etihad Stadium. 

“When you see the amount of Champions League semi-finals and finals and actually winning the Champions League and the dominance domestically – they’ve got a fantastic group of players.

“For me there’s consistently success there and there’s also consistently progression in terms of bringing in new ideas. 

“Who thought in Germany that Pep Guardiola – a Spanish coach, a top coach – would come to the Bundesliga and bring new ideas, innovate German football in a way that he did? It was unthinkable 10, 15 years ago.

“Bayern Munich is always ahead and they’re getting the results by doing that. For me they are serious candidates to win the Champions League this year as well.”

Rosler believes Bayern’s semi-final clash with Lionel Messi and co is too close to call, but the German fancies Guardiola to have the edge on his old team.

“At that level, the last four teams, you can’t expect anything but I think they’ve put themselves in a position with hopefully Ribery returning from injury [and] Thiago being back that they can bring out their full potential,” he added.