Lyon v Bayern Munich

Posted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by BBC.com

"He's come here with a very good reputation and he's doing it his way," added Woodcock. "The players can see that and feel that, and the players have to keep themselves in line."

Should Van Gaal guide Bayern to a second Champions League success - they won the competition in 2001 after clinching the European Cup in 1974, 1975 and 1976 - it would spell a remarkable turnaround for a manager whose best times looked behind him just two years ago.

By then he had spent two spells in charge of Barcelona, winning two La Liga titles, and failed to guide the Netherlands to the 2002 World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.

It was after a second troubled stint at the Nou Camp and a brief but unsuccessful spell as Ajax technical director that he became manager of AZ Alkmaar in 2007, guiding the unfashionable Dutch club to an underwhelming 11th place in the Eredivisie.

Urged to stay on by AZ's players after offering his resignation, the former Sparta Rotterdam player bounced back in stunning style, winning the championship for the first time since 1981.

Bayern Munich then came calling in July 2009 and their faith has been amply repaid.

They now stand a game away from a place in the Champions League final, holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg at the Allianz Arena, and Woodcock insists the big time is coming.

"If they do go on to win it, then I'm sure they're going to be in the market for some top-class international players over the next couple of years," said the former striker, who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest in 1979.

"The Premier League, Italy and Spain have been getting the main crop of the world's best players over the last few years, but if Bayern get the little bit of success they've been wanting then they'll be in the market as much as your bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal."

It has not been all plain sailing for Van Gaal, though.

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