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Pep Guardiola

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola will be hoping his players deliver on their promise of a parting gift when they take on Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final tomorrow as he looks to leave Germany on a high note.

The Spaniard, who takes over Manchester City next season, could win his second domestic double in three seasons after Bayern eased to a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title last week.

However, a failure to win the Champions League, which had been his mandate from the very start, has certainly taken the sheen off Guardiola’s three-year stint at Bayern despite an utter dominance over his home rivals during that spell.

Atletico Madrid proved to strong for Bayern in the semi-finals of this season’s tournament, making it three years in a row that Guardiola’s side had fallen to Spanish opposition at the same stage.

Many Bayern fans never really warmed to the Spaniard as they had done to his predecessor Jupp Heynckes, who won the treble in 2013, or even Louis van Gaal in his first season in 2009-10.

That frostiness was evident during title celebrations last week when Guardiola stood with the team on the town hall balcony but opted not to address the 15,000 fans gathered below at Munich’s Marienplatz.

However, bidding farewell to his players and the fans with a final at Berlin’s Olympic stadium should help soothe the pain of yet another European disappointment.

“It’s clear that this is about a title but it’s also clear that it’s our last game under him,” defender David Alaba said.

“We want to throw everything into the game one more time to give him a parting gift,” the Austria international added. — AFP