Champions League: AEK game crucial for Bayern, says Kovac

Bayern boss Nico Kovac

Under-fire Niko Kovac insists he is shutting out this weekend's crunch Bundesliga showdown to focus on steering Bayern Munich to the verge of a Champions League's Last 16 spot by beating AEK tonight.

Bayern's head coach kept cool when bluntly asked if this could be his last week in charge as defeat at Dortmund on Saturday could leave defending champions Bayern seven points behind in the Bundesliga.

"That is a hard question. Dortmund is on Saturday and perhaps we should talk about the games against [AEK] Athens," said Kovac. "If we win, we have 10 points and we could be through. Sure, the game on Saturday is important, but for me only tomorrow's match [against AEK] is important. I hope the way we play will also be good and that we will win convincingly." Bayern can reach the knockout stages with two games to spare if they beat Greek champions AEK at Munich's Allianz Arena and Benfica lose at Ajax in the other Group E match.

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