Uli Hoeness reveals reasons behind poor Bundesliga season for Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich made it four wins in a row on Saturday when they clinched a narrow 2-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. The victory on matchday 31 also sealed Bayern’s qualification for next season’s Champions League. Bayern are likely to end the season in the second spot behind Bayer Leverkusen.

Qualifying for the Champions League is never the goal for Bayern in the Bundesliga. It has been a challenging season for the Bavarian club as they struggled to retain the league title. Bayer Leverkusen are on course to win the title by at least ten points.

Die Roten were in touching distance of the top spot in the Bundesliga before the winter break. Things started falling apart for Rekordmeister and Thomas Tuchel in Ruckrunde. They consistently dropped points in the Bundesliga, allowing Bayer Leverkusen to build a sizeable lead at the top of the points table.

After winning the Bundesliga title for 11 consecutive seasons, Die Roten will end the ongoing campaign without a domestic trophy. While talking to Frankfurter Allgemeine this week, Uli Hoeness revealed the problem in the squad that has resulted in the meek surrender of the Bundesliga title.

"Everything was going smoothly until a year or two ago. The league titles were won relatively easily, all group games in the Champions League were won - a certain relaxation seems to have penetrated the club. We didn't have enough young, ambitious players who pushed from behind."

Courtesy of the manner of defeats throughout the season, Bayern are planning to refresh the squad in the summer. There are doubts about the future of several senior players at the club. The Bavarian club is also looking for a new coach since Thomas Tuchel will leave Munich at the end of the season.

Max Eberl has also confirmed that many things need to change in the squad to get Bayern back on track in the Bundesliga next season. Christoph Freund and Eberl are holding talks with several players to define their future at the club.

The Bavarian club is also close to completing the process of finding Tuchel’s replacement. Ralf Rangnick is the leading candidate to replace Tuchel after Xabi Alonso and Julian Nagelsmann decided against moving to Munich in the summer. Eberl will look to seal an agreement with the Austrian federation and Rangnick in the next few days.

Despite a torrid Bundesliga campaign, Bayern still has a chance to end the season on a good note. They are three wins away from bringing the Champions League title to Allianz Arena. After beating Eintracht Frankfurt, Tuchel and his team will start preparing for Tuesday’s home clash against Real Madrid. It will be a difficult game for Die Roten, but they can deliver resolute performances on European nights as they did against Arsenal in the previous round.