Wednesday afternoon saw the official end of the Christmas holidays at Bayern Munich, with the full squad reconvening at the club HQ in Sabenerstrasse ahead of their trip to Qatar, for a two-week training camp, on Friday. The second half of the season will only properly start at the end of the month with a tricky away tie at second-placed VfL Wolfsburg, but Pep Guardiola has, as things stand, already reached the halfway point of his term in Bavaria. The Catalan coach has not indicated that he'd be willing to renew his three-year contract, either, despite some careful advances by the club. Guardiola made a habit of running down his existing deals at Barcelona, to be sure. But in Munich, those in charge are secretly bracing for his departure at the end of the 2016 season. If the three-year timeline proves accurate, the clock has started ticking for the 43-year-old and Bayern alike. They'll only have 18 months left together in which Bayern should -- no, must -- win the Champions League.
