Five players were against Ancelotti, says Bayern Munich president

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness says the club were left with no choice but to sack Carlo Ancelotti after revealing five senior players were against the Italian.

The Bundesliga champions sacked Ancelotti on Thursday afternoon in the wake of Bayern’s poor 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in the Champions League.

There have been murmurings of unrest between Ancelotti and Bayern almost ever since the 58-year-old succeeded Pep Guardiola more than 12 months ago and Hoeness has confirmed those suspicions.

“Ancelotti had five important players against him and that situation was untenable,” Hoeness told The Wesfalenpost, via Football Italia.

“It is clear that we did not make such a far-reaching decision because of one single defeat. The club saw a situation developing for several weeks and months, one that had been relatively under control.

“However, in my opinion, over the last few days he lost five important players and that became difficult to sustain.

“As a coach, you cannot work with five of your most prominent players as opponents. The enemy by your side is the most dangerous, so that’s why we had to act.”

Ancelotti made the surprising decision to leave Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and Mats Hummels on the bench against former club PSG, while Kingsley Coman is another player that reportedly did not see eye-to-eye with the Italian.

Assistant head coach Willy Sagnol has been placed in interim charge, while former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, who is currently out of work, has been tipped as a potential candidate to succeed Ancelotti.