Fourth league title comes first for Bayern - Guardiola

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayern Munich's priorities this season are winning a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title and reaching the Champions League semi-finals, the German champions' coach Pep Guardiola said on Thursday.

Fourth league title comes first for Bayern - Guardiola

(Reuters)





Bayern kick their league season off against Hamburg SV on Friday and Guardiola said winning a fourth straight Bundesliga title -- something no team has done before -- would be special.

However, Guardiola, a Champions League winner at Barcelona, has not won a European title since joining Bayern two years ago.

"Obviously I would like to win the Bundesliga. There are great clubs in the Bundesliga but no team has managed to win the league title four times in a row. This is something we want to do," he told a news conference.

"It would be a big step for us.

"But with all the players healthy we also want to reach the Champions League semi-finals. After that we can see. We have an amazing squad. Super, super squad and we know each other better now than two years ago."

Winning the Bundesliga this season would not be a major surprise for Bayern and they have boosted an already high quality squad with the likes of Chile international Arturo Vidal and Brazil winger Douglas Costa, who's speed and skill down the wing have impressed Guardiola.

"He (Costa) has qualities that are very hard to find," he said. "He has been here for a month but he will be one of the top five wingers in the world."

Guardiola, in his third season in charge at Bayern, will be without several players recovering from injuries, including winger Franck Ribery and holding midfielder Javi Martinez.

"When you win, you win three points but you also win self-confidence," he said. "Hamburg are a great club and I have a lot of respect. Obviously we look at our opponents but 80 percent is about how we focus on our game."





(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Michael Hann)


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