By DPA,
Hamburg: Three coaches who are all European Cup or Champions League winners and who have almost a dozen league titles to their names are leading the way in the German Bundesliga at the half-way stage.
Leaders Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04 and Bayer Munich are perhaps proof that there is no substitute for experience – and there are few coaches in Europe with more domestic titles to their names than Jupp Heynckes, Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal.
All three took over their new jobs at the start of the season and all three are European champions – Heynckes as coach of Real Madrid in 1998, van Gaal with Ajax in 1995 and Magath as a player with SV Hamburg in 1983.
Heynckes has led Leverkusen to Germany’s “autumn championship” in his first season in charge. His team finished the first half of the season unbeaten after a 3-2 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach, and has a point lead over Schalke and two over Bayern.
The 64-year-old former West Germany striker believes his young side can go all the way to the league title – and after all, he has done it all before. In the first of his two league titles as coach of Bayern, he was also unbeaten at the same stage of the 1988/89 season.
“I am confident. The team demonstrated against Moenchengladbach that they want to stay at the top,” he said.
Leverkusen indeed look as if they could be challenging at the end. The signing of Sami Hyypia from Liverpool has stabilised the defence, goalkeeper Rene Adler is arguably the best in Germany, while Stefan Kiessling has been scoring freely up front.
With key players such as midfielder Simon Rolfes, striker Patrick Helmes and midfielder Renato Augusto still to return from injury Heynckes has every reason to be optimistic.
Magath is meanwhile the man of the moment after taking over at cash-strapped Schalke and steering a team hungry for success to second place.
The 56-year-old former West Germany midfielder, who won league titles with Bayern Munich in 2005 and 2006, is undoubtedly the coach of the year after leading Wolfsburg to the 2008/2009 title in May.
With virtually nothing to spend on new players at Schalke he has put his faith in some of the club’s younger players, and his trust has been returned.
“To have 34 points is something that we couldn’t even have dreamed of. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to win so many games,” Magath said after Friday’s 1-0 victory over Mainz.
Bayern can also enjoy a relaxed Christmas, with a toast to Dutchman van Gaal who appears to be winning over the early critics who bemoaned his tactics and authoritarian style.
Van Gaal’s credentials need no explanations after winning three league titles with Ajax, two with Barcelona and the 2009 Dutch title with Alkmaar.
Six straight wins in all competitions and 10 undefeated in the Bundesliga leaves Bayern nicely placed in third place, and looking forward to a second half of the season still in the Champions League.
Van Gaal looked to be close to an early exit at Bayern after a rocky autumn, but the 58-year-old can sleep peacefully now, having found a settled formation, with Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic forming a useful strike partnership, and with the prospect of a return next year from injury of Franck Ribery in midfield.
“I think the biggest difference compared to the start of the season is the goals, which we’re scoring freely now,” van Gaal said.
“That’s largely down to Gomez and Olic, although the most important thing is the way the players have come together as a team. We’re still in the hunt in three competitions, so we’ll have a nice
and peaceful Christmas.”
Despite the experience of the top three, the Bundesliga’s younger guard are by no means out of the race.
Werder Bremen’s Thomas Schaaf may be a one-club man as both player and coach but at 48 and with a title win in 2004 and other trophies he has already enjoyed considerable success. His 10 years in charge at Bremen also make him the Bundesliga’s longest-serving coach.
And one to watch from the younger generation is 42-year-old Juergen Klopp who in his second season in charge at Borussia Dortmund has taken taken the venerable 1997 Champions League winners into the top five.