Lucio backs Klinsmann over Bayern future

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Brazil international Lucio has backed Jurgen Klinsmann to lift Bayern Munich out of their current malaise.

A 1-0 win against Arminia Bielefeld at the weekend kept Bayern in the title race, but Klinsmann’s job remains under threat as the fall-out from the Champions League defeat to Barcelona continues.

"If we win the league then it will also be for the coach," Lucio told the Tageszeitung.

"Of course it hurts me to hear the calls of 'Klinsmann out'. If I were a fan on the terraces, I would not join in.

"What would a new coach do? I believe the fans have got to support us in this phase of the season, regardless of our situation.

"We are now going into the most critical stage of the season and this is when we need the fans and their motivation the most.

"The win over Bielefeld was a win for our morale. Everybody could see it was intact and we are certainly not going to give up. We have just got to win at the moment, which is why it was important to fight hard and get the three points."

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund striker Nelson Valdez has penned a new contract that will keep him at the club for another five years.

The 25-year-old Paraguayan, who joined the club from Werder Bremen three years ago, has penned a two-year extension to his current deal that had been due to expire in 2012.

“We have recently been in discussions with Nelson and have now reached a conclusion,” Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc told the club’s official website.

Valdez has found the net ten times in 80 appearances for the club with four of those goals coming since this term’s winter break.

Former Bologna and Palermo defender Cristian Zaccardo is desperate to leave Wolfsburg and return to Italy.

The 27-year-old has spent most of this term on the substitute’s bench as Wolfsburg have mounted a surprise challenge for the Bundesliga title.

“I would love to return to Italy and especially to a big team,” Zaccardo told La Repubblica. “I would have liked to have played here, but Felix Magath and I did not see eye to eye.

“It is like when you try to win over a woman. You try everything, but when it isn’t mirrored on the other side, then you’ve got no chance. If it was up to me, I would go straight to Milan.”