Kovac eyes double after ‘intense’ season

BERLIN: Cup specialist Niko Kovac is hoping to end a turbulent first season in charge of Bayern Munich with a domestic double when his side face RB Leipzig in the German Cup final in Berlin on Saturday.

The Bayern boss has been under pressure lately amid rumours that he may be sacked at the end of the season, but has said that he is focusing on football ahead of Saturday’s final.

“I want to throw myself into the task (of winning the cup), everything else, everything concerning my position, is secondary,” he said on Friday.

Just hours earlier on the other side of Berlin, Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that Kovac’s job did not depend on the outcome of the final. Kovac admitted that it had been an “intense” season, and said that winning the league title last weekend had lifted a weight off his shoulders. “The season was long, and when you reach your goal you feel more comfortable and the tension drops. But we have had time to relax with our families and now we are focused on tomorrow,” he said. Saturday will be a third return home in three years for native Berliner Kovac, who led former club Eintracht Frankfurt to back-to-back cup finals in 2017 and 2018, and delivered a shock victory over Bayern last year.