User:OdinFK/Robbery

Robbery (2007–19)
For the 2007–08 season, Bayern made drastic squad changes to help rebuild. They signed a total of eight new players and sold, released or loaned out nine of their players. Among new signings were 2006 World Cup stars such as Franck Ribéry, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni. Bayern went on to win the Bundesliga in convincing fasion, leading the standings on every single week of play, and the DFB-Pokal against Borussia Dortmund.

After the season Bayern's long-term goalkeeper Oliver Kahn retired which left the club without a top-tier goalkeeper for several seasons. The club's coach Ottmar Hitzfeld also retired and Jürgen Klinsmann was chosen as his successor. However, Klinsmann was sacked even before the end of his first season as Bayern trailed Wolfsburg in the league, had lost the quarterfinal of the DFB-Pokal to Bayer Leverkusen, and had been made look silly in the Quarterfinal of the Champions League when FC Barcelona scored four times in the first half of the first leg and over the course of both legs Bayern never looked like they could keep up. Jupp Heynckes was named caretaker coach and led the club to a second place finish in the league.

For the 2009–10 season Bayern hired Dutch manager Louis van Gaal, and Dutch foward Arjen Robben joined Bayern. Robben alongside Ribéry would go on to shape Bayern’s play style of attacking over the wings for the next ten years. The press quickly dubbed the duo ‚Robbery‘. In addition David Alaba and Thomas Müller were promoted to the first team. With Müller van Gaal went so far as to proclaim ‚with me, Müller always plays‘ which has become a much referenced phrase over the years. On the pitch Bayern had its most successful season since 2001, securing the domestic double and losing only in the final of the Champions League to Inter Milan 0–2. Despite the successful 2009–10 campaign van Gaal was fired in April 2011 as Bayern was trailing in the league and eliminated in the first knockout round of the Champions League. Van Gaal’s second in command, Andries Jonker, took over and finished the season in third place.

Jupp Heynckes returned for his second permanent spell in the 2011–12 season. Although the club had signed Manuel Neuer, ending Bayern's quest for an adequate substitute for Kahn, and Jérôme Boateng for the season, Bayern stayed without title for the second season in a row, coming in second to Borussia Dortmund in the league and the cup. The Champions League final was held at the Allianz and Bayern indeed reached the final in their home stadium, but lost the ‚Finale dahoam‘ as they had termed it to Chelsea on penalties.

For the 2012–13 season Bayern signed Javi Martínez. After Bayern had finished as runner-up to all titles in 2011–12 Bayern went on to win all titles in 2012–13, setting various Bundesliga records along the way, and becoming the first German team to win the treble. Bayern finished the Bundesliga on 91 points, only 11 points shy of a perfect season, and to date still the best season ever played. In what was Bayern’s third Champions League final appearance within four years they beat Borussia Dortmund 1–0. A week later they completed the treble by winning the DFB-Pokal final over VfB Stuttgart. During the season, in January, Bayern had already announced that they would hire Pep Guardiola as coach for the 2013–14 season. Originally the club presented this as Heynckes retiring on the expiration of his contract, but Uli Hoeneß later admitted, that it was not Heynckes's decision to leave Bayern at the end of the season. It was actually forced by the club's desire to appoint Guardiola.

Bayern fulfilled Guardiola’s wish of signing Thiago Alcântara from FC Barcelona and Guardiola’s first season started off well with Bayern extending a streak of undefeated league matches from the last season to 53 matches. The eventual loss to Augsburg came two match days after Bayern had already claimed the league title. During the season Bayern had also claimed two other titles, the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, the latter being the last major trophy the club had not yet won. Bayern also won the cup to complete their tenth domestic double, but lost in the semi-final of the Champions League to FC Barcelona. Off the pitch Bayern’s president Uli Hoeneß was convicted of tax evasion on 13 March 2014 and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Hoeneß resigned the next day. Vice-president Karl Hopfner was elected president on 2 May.

Before the 2014–15 season Bayern picked up Robert Lewandowski after his contract had ended at Borussia Dortmund, and loaned out Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid. Bayern also let Toni Kroos leave for Real. Club icons Bastian Schweinsteiger and Claudio Pizarro left before the 2015–16 season. In these two seasons Bayern defended their league title, including another double in 2014–15, but failed to advance past the semi-finals in the Champions League, which led to disappointment on the club’s periphery as the expectation had been that Guardiola would lead the club to their fifth Champions League title. Although the club’s leadership tried to convice Guardiola to stay, the coach decided not to extend his three-year contract.

Carlo Ancelotti was hired as successor to Guardiola. The key transfer for the 2016–17 campaign was Mats Hummels from Borussia Dortmund. Off the pitch Uli Hoeneß had been released early from prison and reelected as president in November 2016. Under Ancelotti Bayern claimed their fifth consecutive league title, but did not win the cup or the Champions League. In July 2017 Bayern announced that 1860 Munich would leave the Allianz for good as the club had been relegated to the 4th division. Before the 2017–18 season Bayern made extensive changes to their squad, signing amongst others young prospects such as Kingsley Coman, Corentin Tolisso, Serge Gnabry and Niklas Süle, and loaning James Rodríguez from Real. Meanwhile the club’s captain, Philipp Lahm, and Xabi Alonso retired, and several other players left the club. As Bayern’s performances were perceived to be more and more lackluster Ancelotti was sacked after a 0–3 loss to Paris St. Germain in the Champions League, early in his second season. Willy Sagnol took over as interim manager for a week before it was announced that Jupp Heynckes would finish the season in his fourth spell at the club. During the season the club urged Heynckes —even publicly— to extend his contract, but Heynckes, aged 73, stayed firm that he would retire for good after the season. The club began a long and extensive search to find a replacement and eventually Niko Kovač was presented as Heynckes’s successor, signing a three-year contract. Heynckes led the club to another championship. In the cup final, Heynckes's last match as coach, Heynckes met his successor on the pitch. Kovac’s Eintracht Frankfurt denied Bayern the title, winning 3-1.

Kovac’s first season at the club started slow with Bayern falling behind Dortmund in the league throughout the first half of the season. In contrast to similar situations with van Gaal and Ancelotti the club's leadership decided to protect their coach from criticisms, however. After the winter break Bayern quickly closed the distance and put themselves first place in the league. In the Champions League the club was elimanted by Liverpool in the round of 16, the first time since 2011 that Bayern did not reach the quarterfinal. During the season Arjen Robben announced that it would be his last season for the club. In March 2019 Bayern announced, that they had signed Lucas Hernandez from Atlético for a Bundesliga record fee of €80 Mio.