Boss dismisses Bayern hopes

Van Gaal takes pressure off players by ruling out Euro success

By Jamie Casey   Last updated: 18th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Boss dismisses Bayern hopes

Van Haal: Unoptimistic of chances

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Bayern Munich boss Louis van Gaal insists his side should not be considered among the favourites to win the UEFA Champions League.

The four-time winners of Europe's elite club competition are in the hat for Friday's open draw for the quarter-finals and Van Gaal recognises Barcelona and Manchester United as the teams to avoid.

"If I had to bet on the winners of the Champions League, I would not bet on Bayern Munich," said Van Gaal, whose side knocked out Fiorentina in the second round.

"I think Barcelona and Manchester are the teams (to beat)."

"(Sir Alex) Ferguson has been at Manchester United for more than 20 years, (Pep) Guardiola has been at Barcelona for nearly two years now and they have some players of real quality.

"Barcelona are the top favourites for me. They showed that impressively against Stuttgart and Manchester are also strong.

"It would be unbelievable for me, if we were to succeed against teams like these. We would need to have some luck and everything would need to go our way."

Advantage

Bayern captain Mark van Bommel insists there are no easy draws at this stage of the competition, and he is hoping the Bundesliga leaders can steal an advantage by being drawn away from home in the first leg.

"From now on, all teams are dangerous," said Van Bommel with Bordeaux, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Lyon and CSKA Moscow completing the list of last-eight contenders.

"It would be great if we were away for the first leg."

Bayern's chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge agreed with Van Gaal that Bayern are not one of the favourites to win the trophy this season but admits the club have a long-term plan to get back amongst Europe's elite once again.

"We are not one of the favourites to win the Champions League," Rummenigge told Die Welt. "We are still a little bit away from the top sides.

"But our goal for the next few years is to become stable to close that gap as we can get closer to the other clubs."