Klinsmann's future at Munich looks to be in doubt

FRANKFURT (AP) - Juergen Klinsmann's future as coach of Bayern Munich appeared in doubt Thursday after his team's 4-0 away loss to Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Klinsmann said he has no intention of stepping down, but many newspapers speculated that he was about to be fired with Bayern's defeat at the Camp Nou on Wednesday having been preceded by a 5-1 loss to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga last week.

"Klinsi, that was it!" read the headline of the front page of Munich's Abendzeitung, while Bild said, "Klinsi will shortly be ousted," and Berlin Kurier's described the match as: "A first-class burial, a total dismantling, an outclassing, a declaration of bankruptcy."

Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer described the first half of the match in Barcelona, when Bayern conceded all four goals, as "the most dreadful I'd ever seen from Bayern - a catastrophe."

Beckenbauer, who writes columns for Bild, had said before the match that Bayern officials would get together after the season and "discuss consequences, if necessary."

That remark irked general manager Uli Hoeness and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who cautioned against making any hasty decisions.

"Now, we have to remain rational and not to overreact and not make any senseless, spontaneous decisions," Rummenigge said.

"We have to save what can be saved and that means trying to achieve our goal in the eight remaining games in the Bundesliga. I can only ask everyone to do their best to use the one chance in the Bundesliga that we still have."

Klinsmann, who led Germany to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup at home in his first coaching job, had never coached a club before arriving at Bayern at the start of the season on a two-year contract.

Bayern has already has conceded one of its titles from last season, the German Cup, and could also lose its Bundesliga title.

The team is fourth in the standings - three points behind Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV - with eight rounds remaining.

Klinsmann had left his California residence to return to Germany and take up the most scrutinized job in German football outside perhaps the national team. He surrounded himself with a large international staff and instituted many changes but Bayern has rarely shone this season, especially since the winter break.

The Champions League has now been written off and Bayern must try to win the only possible title still within its grasp.

Klinsmann wasn't ready to throw in the towel, telling German reporters before departing Barcelona that he had not lost his interest in the job "in any way."

"It's a very difficult moment and that's normal for the job. Now, the team knows that it's five to 12," Klinsmann said. "But I know what this team is capable of and I have no doubt that it will show a reaction Saturday."

Bayern travels to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

"We can now focus fully on the championship," Klinsmann said, adding that the title was an "obligation" that would make or break both the coach and the players.-AP