MUNICH: Bayern Mun­ich’s new coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Monday that he would stick to his predecessor Pep Guardiola’s offensive strategy for the Bundesliga giants, pledging to “try to win every competition”.

“I come after a fantastic manager, and I will try to follow (him with) good football, and offensive football,” Ancelotti said, in his first press conference as head coach of the German champions.

“I’m not here to do a revolution. The job that Guardiola did was fantastic and I would like to follow his style,” stressed Ancelotti, who, like the Spaniard, spoke in German at the beginning of his first press meeting, having taken a language crash course.

Ancelotti also trying to damp high expectations in the Champions League.

Guardiola lifted the trophy twice with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 and led Bayern to three Bundesliga titles in his three seasons. But after taking over the Champions League title-holders, he could lead Bayern only as far as the semi-finals in that championship in all three seasons, and decided not to extend his contract.

Ancelotti will be expected to earn that trophy in his three seasons, having won the Champions League twice with AC Milan and once with Real Madrid, but he declined to promise it. “We are going to try to be strong in all competitions and to win them all. But I’m not a magician, and Bayern are not the only club seeking the Champions League title.”

But first he may have to tackle the question of what to do with Mario Gotze, who has endured three unhappy years in Munich, mostly spending time on the bench.

Speculation had been rife that Germany’s World Cup final hero was set to either join up with his ex-Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool or return to former club Dortmund.

Ancelotti said he had had a frank conversation with Gotze a month ago, but would not reveal details of the chat.

The manager would only say that as long as Gotze is a Bayern player, “I will treat him as a Bayern player”.

Refusing to shut the door to possible transfers while the window is still open until August 31, Ancelotti suggested that there would be few changes to the team.

“We have a really good squad, and we are not talking about new players, but the market is open until the end of August,” Ancelotti said.

Bayern already have sig­ned central defender Mats Hummels from Borussia Dor­t­mund and teenager Renato Sanches from Benfica.

On the eve of Ancelotti’s first training session with the squad, Bayern’s sporting director Matthias Sammer announced he was leaving his position after a health scare.

Sammer, 48, suffered a blood circulation problem in his brain in April and has since regained full health, but said he no longer had the desire to continue in his role.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the club had offered options including a sabbatical to convince Sammer to stay, but “he told us that for him the best option was to end the chapter at Bayern”.

Sammer’s contract was due to end only in 2018, and colleagues will cover for him until a new sporting director is found, said Rummenigge.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2016