On Friday, FC Bayern extended head coach Hansi Flick’s contract until 2023. “FC Bayern are very satisfied with Hansi Flick’s work,” said chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, explaining the decision. “The team has developed very well under him. They’re playing attractive football, which is also reflected in the results.”
A look at the statistics backs up these statements. Since Flick took charge on 3 November 2019, no team and no coach in Europe’s top leagues has a higher win percentage than FCB (86%, joint with PSG and Thomas Tuchel). That win percentage is also the best for any head coach in the history of the German record champions.
Second-best points haul after Guardiola
Bayern have collected 37 points of a possible 45 in the Bundesliga. In the history of the league, only Pep Guardiola has managed more points in his first 15 matches. With an average of 2.47 points per game, Flick also currently has the second-best points average in Bundesliga history – again after Guardiola (2.52). We look back at five moments that have defined the 55-year-old’s time in the FCB dugout so far.
1. Sensational start
Flick has been able to rely on Robert Lewandowski this term. The Pole netted a brace against Dortmund.
After a 2-0 win over Olympiakos in his opening game in charge, Flick faced a huge match against Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena – and FCB sent BVB packing with a 4-0 triumph. Three more wins followed in the next three games in all competitions, with an incredible goal difference of 16:0. It was the best start for a Bayern boss since the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1965.
2. Perfect response to first setbacks
Golden touch: As he did at Freiburg a few days earlier, Flick brought on Joshua Zirkzee in the closing stages against Wolfsburg and the youngster again scored the winner for Bayern.
After that, however, there were two anguishing defeats against Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, despite the Reds dominating large parts of both games and creating numerous clear chances. Flick and his team didn’t let that get them down, though, and they responded with another impressive run. Up until the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, Bayern had won 14 of their last 15 games in all competitions, drawing 0-0 against Leipzig in the other.
3. Champions League record to start run
Alphonso Davies provided two assists in a 3-2 win for Bayern. The 19-year-old Canadian has impressed this season, starting every game under Flick.
That run started with a 3-1 win against last year’s runners-up Tottenham Hotspur on Matchday 6 of the Champions League group stage, as Bayern became the first German club to win all six UCL group fixtures. 18 points and a goal difference of +19 is also the best record for a team in the group stage in the history of Europe’s premier club competition.
4. Top spot reclaimed
On Matchday 20, Bayern returned to the top of the Bundesliga table courtesy of a 3-1 win over Mainz 05 – and they’ve not given it up since. When Flick took charge, the title holders were four points off top spot – now they’re four points in front.
5. Statement of intent in London
Serge Gnabry was the match-winner again in London with two goals against Chelsea.
Bayern took their impressive form into Europe in the first leg of their last-16 clash with Chelsea. The men from Munich dominated for the majority of the encounter in West London and deservedly ran out 3-0 winners, meaning Flick had won his first four Champions League matches with FCB. The only other man to have done that in the Champions League, or European Cup, is Pep Guardiola, who won his first five in the 2013/14 campaign.
All the details and quotes on Flick’s contract extension:
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