#4 Bayern Munich (2009-2011)
Bayern Munich came in for Louis van Gaal after AZ Alkmaar’s brilliant showing in the previous season. He labelled Bayern Munich to be his dream club and immediately signed up compatriot Arjen Robben to bolster the attack. He suffered a bad start at Bayern, winning only one of his first four matches in charge.
He continued to defend his team’s performances saying that his philosophy required time to be absorbed by the players. He brought in Thomas Muller and Holger Badstuber and converted then winger Bastian Schweinsteiger into a defensive midfielder.
The changes worked to an extent as the Bavarians reached the finals of the Champions League, losing out to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan at the final hurdle and won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.
His contract was later terminated in 2011 after his team started playing drab, unadventurous football and Bayern president Uli Hoeness commented, “‘Football should be enjoyable, but there has been nothing enjoyable about football at FC Bayern for a while now.”
