"Under my leadership Bayern unfortunately lost and two years later they qualified for the final again and unfortunately lost again. Now they finally won at their third attempt. So yes, I have perhaps contributed a bit to this development. And Dortmund became champions in the past two years. So they were also on the rise."
"For me it's not so strange," he added. "I have said years ago that Germany and Spain are the best footballing nations. That became a reality. Because Spain was the last winner of the Champions League and now we have the German winners."
Van Gaal returned as head coach of the Netherlands in 2012 and also adjusted his selection procedure to this new trend he perceived.
"My policy was in the first place that players must be fit," he explained. "And if they want to be fit, they have to play a lot. If they did not play much, they actually were not selectable for me.
"The second important principle is that they do not have my confidence. The form of the day matters. Ten years ago I was also Dutch coach and I had given my trust to them and those players betrayed that trust. And so I'm now selecting on the form of the day. Because I only borrow players from other coaches. I am not responsible for their fitness, because the time is too short.
"When players are with me, we always play matches and I cannot train hard on specific things. In other words: I have to look carefully to see players that fit the profile of the positions that we have created."
Breathing and Working Together：Mobile app tells you Beijing's environment
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