Pablo Laso has been announced this Monday morning as Bayern's new coach. The 55-year-old Basque coach signs for two seasons with the German club, which presented him today at a press conference before the media. Laso had been without a team since his controversial departure from Real Madrid last summer, the club with which he won 22 titles over the decade in which he led the team.
“It is a great honor and I am happy to be in Munich. I would like to thank this great club for considering me to help write Bayern's next chapter in the EuroLeague and La Liga. Of course, I would be happy to be able to achieve similar successes as in the past, but success is not only defined by winning the EuroLeague, that should be clear to everyone. I am 100% committed and ready to help Bayern take this exciting project to the next level," said the coach, who arrived in Germany on Sunday night.
The president of Bayern, Herbert Hainer, has been full of praise for Laso, who has highlighted his "incredible experience" and his "great success with Real Madrid": "He is one of the most outstanding coaches in the Euroleague", he has saying. The former player and current general manager of Bayern Marko Pesic also had affectionate words: “We are delighted to be able to win over a basketball expert like Pablo Laso for our club. For understandable reasons, he was very popular and it is a great honor that he has now agreed to join us. Pablo is one of the most successful coaches of the last decade and I am very sure that he will positively impact us with his know-how and personality”.
After a decade at the helm of Real Madrid, achieving every success possible, Pablo Laso was sacked last summer citing "medical reasons". A month earlier, he had suffered a heart condition that kept him off the bench. He was released a couple of days after being hospitalized and the doctors advised him not to return to the bench for the remainder of the season. The coach later assured that he was recovered and ready to return next season, but Real Madrid decided to do without him. A sad farewell for a coach who had been everything at the white club.
