Bayern coach Kovac apologises to City’s Guardiola over Leroy Sane pursuit

Berlin: Bayern Munich coach Nico Kovac has telephoned Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola to apologise over his public pursuit of the English club’s German striker Leroy Sane.

Kovac had said he was confident a deal could be done for the 23-year-old, comments which his own president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge condemned as “not helpful in the negotiations”.

“I phoned Pep Guardiola and I apologised to him because I was too offensive, I will refrain in the future,” Kovac said after Bayern had lost to Tottenham on penalties in the final of a pre-season tournament.

“We want him, we want him to stay,” said Guardiola. “That’s the reason why for more than one year he has an offer waiting to talk with his agent to extend the contract.

“Beyond that it’s not in my hands, he has to decide. If he wants to stay and reach an agreement it’s good, if he wants to leave we can decide what he can do. Hopefully he stays.”

Spurs prevailed over Bayern Munich on penalties in the finals to win the Audi Cup preseason tournament.

In the third-place play-off, French striker Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid defeated Fenerbahce 5-3 to temporarily lifted the summer gloom which has engulfed the Spanish giants and coach Zinedine Zidane.

However, problems remain for Real as they have now conceded 16 goals in just five friendly matches.

They faced their Turkish opponents having been defeated by Tottenham 1-0 on Tuesday in the first match of a four-team event.

“We are going to find the solutions, we are going to work. I stand by my players and I know that we are going to make progress and that we will have a very good season,” said Zidane whose team had been left bruised by a humiliating 7-3 defeat by city rivals Atletico in a friendly in the United States last week.

“Nobody likes conceding three goals but we have scored five. For us, this is a positive victory.”