Bayern's Kovac not interested in sack speculation

Niko Kovac is not interested in speculation he could be sacked by Bayern Munich if they fail to retain the Bundesliga title. Bayern must win at home to Kovac's old club Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday to guarantee they cannot be caught by Borussia Dortmund.

They could still complete a domestic double as Kovac has led Bayern through a rocky DFB-Pokal campaign to a final against RB Leipzig. Regardless of the potential for Bayern to end the campaign with two trophies, reports have claimed Kovac's job is on the line this weekend.

Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag, who previously coached Bayern's reserve team, is among those linked with succeeding Kovac. But the Croatian is ignoring speculation about his future ahead of Saturday's game, which will be the last at the club for Arjen Robben, Rafinha and Franck Ribery.

"These are side issues that I'm not interested in," Kovac told reporters on Thursday when asked about rumours he could be sacked.  "We now have two tasks to focus on, we could become champions, our full focus is not on what's being told, I'm not interested.

"I have a contract that will run for another two years and I want to fulfil that, we have developed well and we only lost twice after the Dusseldorf game." 

May 16, 2019

With so much at stake Bayern could give Robben, Ribery and Rafinha the perfect farewell by claiming the title in front of their own fans. But Kovac was unwilling to divulge whether he would play the long-serving trio, while James Rodriguez and captain Manuel Neuer are ruled out due to injury.

"We do not have to say too much about the three of them, they did a lot for the club," Kovac added. "I will not tell you who's playing, we want to get the fans excited, it's a final, I'm pretty sure our team will feel the extra motivation. We hope the spark will jump us over the line.

"Javi Martinez will train again tomorrow. [Joshua] Kimmich had a reduced workload today, but everything is fine. Thiago Alcantara is doing well too and already took part in some of yesterday's session. "Manuel Neuer made good progress. He's on the road to recovery, but he won't play on the weekend. James Rodriguez is also still out."