Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany may only have been the fifth or sixth choice for the job last year, but he repaid the club by regaining the Bundesliga title on Sunday.
The 39-year-old Belgian has achieved this through a player-focused approach while successfully navigating the club’s complex politics.
Despite Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, Bayern secured the title 24 hours later when last year’s champion Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at Freiburg.
Bayern surprised many when it paid Burnley compensation to hire Kompany, whose inexperience as a manager had been exposed when the English club was relegated from the Premier League, a year after he guided it back to the elite.
The former Manchester City and Belgium defender, though, showed he had learned from that and brought harmony and unity back to the Bayern dressing room, an area in which some of his more experienced predecessors had failed.
By getting the team behind him, Kompany has been able to dodge criticism despite disappointing exits from the Champions League and German Cup.
While calm never lasts long at Bayern, a club nicknamed “FC Hollywood” due to the penchant for off-field drama, Kompany has the German giants back where, in their eyes at least, they belong.
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