Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has sounded the alarm bells ahead of next week’s Champions League semifinal at Real Madrid after back-to-back defeats in the Bundesliga.
“If we play like we have done in the last three league games, we won’t be reaching any finals,” said Guardiola as Bayern bid to reach their fourth Champions League final in five years.
The 43-year-old is encountering his first difficult period at Bayern and was more animated and self-critical than usual in Tuesday’s press conference, 24 hours before Bayern’s German Cup semifinal at home to second-division Kaiserslautern.
Since winning the Bundesliga title three weeks ago with a record seven matches to spare, Bayern have only won one of their last five games, including back-to-back league defeats at Augsburg and Borussia Dortmund, who romped to a 3-0 win in Munich on Saturday.
Bayern are bidding to repeat last season’s treble of Champions League, German Cup and Bundesliga titles, but Guardiola admits he is stunned by the sudden drop in form.
“It’s the same training, the same system, the same players,” he said.
Giant-killers Kaiserslautern have already knocked top-flight sides Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin out of the German Cup, but last won in Munich 17 years ago.
After the cup semifinal, Bayern travel to Bundesliga bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday in their final preparation before their trip to Real’s Bernabeu on 23 April.
“We’re in a dangerous situation,” admitted Guardiola.
“If we play in Madrid like we have done recently, we have no chance.
“When the focus isn’t there, then the head is slow and everything happens a little slower.”
Bayern last met Madrid in the Champions League in 2011-12, when the Bundesliga champions beat their Spanish rivals on the away-goals rule before eventually losing the final to Chelsea at the Allianz Arena.
The first leg of this season’s semi-final tie is scheduled to take place at Santiago Bernabeu on April 22.
