Munich: Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal will stay with the German champions and Cup winners even if they win the treble, reversing a decision he had taken some months ago, the Dutchman said on Monday.
Van Gaal, with a contract until 2011, has led Bayern to a German league and Cup double in his first season in charge and could also win the Champions League title when his team faces Italy's Inter Milan on Saturday in Madrid.
He had said earlier this year he would leave the club if they won the treble as there would be nothing more to achieve. His wife repeated those claims in a newspaper interview on Monday.
"No", he told Reuters when asked whether he would stick by his decision should Bayern win an unprecedented treble for a German club.
"I have talked to a lot of people, players and club bosses and no, I will not leave. I do have a contract. But next year is a different story," he said after a team training session at the Bayern training ground in a leafy Munich suburb.
Van Gaal looked to be on his way out late last year after a rocky start of the season with a team comprising several new players, including strikers Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic as well as Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
But Bayern went on a 13-match winning streak to top the league earlier this month before adding the German Cup to their collection with an impressive 4-0 demolition of Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Van Gaal said Bayern could become even better as the players had embraced his vision of how they should play.
"I have never witnessed that such an overwhelming percentage of players believe in my philosophy," said the Dutchman, who won the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995, before switching to Barcelona.
"This team can become even better. We have not yet reached our full potential," said the 58-year-old coach, adding that Bayern had played a disciplined game against Bremen for 70 minutes.
"The discipline is in the brain. The most important thing is to maintain it over 90 minutes. All the conditions are there (at Bayern) and it is only a matter of time before we operate like that," he said.
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