Serial Bundesliga champions will judge their new manager not by titles but rather a handful of European knockout matches
Julian Nagelsmann is 33. This summer, he will fulfil what always seemed his destiny and become manager of Bayern Munich, the club he supported as a boy growing up in Landsberg am Lech, the Bavarian town where a young Johnny Cash was stationed with the US air force. It is a story with an almost mythic quality: the young professional suffering serious knee injuries and committing himself to coaching, emerging as the brightest talent of the dominant German school. But this is where it gets real; this is where he has to win.
Nagelsmann will face the problem common to all managers of Bayern (or Juventus or Paris Saint-Germain): that the domestic league is not a challenge. Bayern this season will complete a ninth straight title; the latest Deloitte report shows their annual revenues are 73% higher than those of the second-wealthiest team, Borussia Dortmund. Of course they dominate: RB Leipzig posed a slight threat to Bayern this season and may finish within 10 points, but this summer they will lose their most promising player, the central defender Dayot Upamecano, and their manager to the perennial champions.
Related: RB Leipzig confirm Jesse Marsch will replace Julian Nagelsmann next season
For Bayern, very few games count and the type that do are just the fixtures in which Nagelsmann is yet to deliver
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