Feature: Ancelotti's golden way for Bayern Munich

Carlo Ancelotti seems to be on the way to solving one of most challenging problems in his career. Before the 57-year-old Italian star coach took over the job at Bayern Munich last summer, his mission was clearly outlined - he had to win the Champions League for the Bavarians.

However how do you achieve your goal when you have to coach a club where two highly influential and famous coaches were in charge beforehand? The 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid provided the first answers. Now the Italian and his club are eagerly awaiting the draw for the first knock-our round on Monday.

Munich represented a big challenge to Ancelotti and the big question was how was he going to approach it - either copy the style of predecessors or use his own style? But the coach seems to have found a third answer which indicates his brilliance lies in being able to change trusted habits to make success possible.

One rarely finds top coaches without rigid principles. His predecessors were two good examples. First there was Jupp Heynckes who won the treble with Bayern in 2013 and then Pep Guardiola who reached the Champions League semi-final on three occasions without quite making it to the very top.

Ancelotti's answer is simple and brilliant at the same time. The Italian is teaching his team a combination of his style and the one of his predecessors. While Ancelotti has insisted on a strict 4-3-3 system with three midfielders that were more defensively-minded, Heynckes and Guardiola favored a more offensive style.

Guardiola however did not manage to solve the problem of not being effective enough up front when trying to break defensive sides and being not compact enough to keep fast counter -attacking opponents at bay. Under Ancelotti, Bayern now seems to have found the answer - a combination of Ancelotti's system and Guardiola's with the ability to switch systems.

The key role is the man behind center striker Robert Lewandowski, like Thomas Mueller or Thiago who either drop back (Ancelotti system) or stay up front with strikers like Lewandowski and the wingers Franck Ribery (Douglas Costa) and Arjen Robben (Kingsley Coman) which is similar to the systems of Guardiola and Heynckes.

Having a No. 10 immediately behind the front line increases the variety of the attacking game as the route through the middle is also an option as it creates triangles on both flanks between the spearhead (Lewandowski) and either the midfielder (Mueller or Thiago) and either Ribery (left flank) or Robben (right flank).

The type of team that Ancelotti's side has to face seems to determine who the decisive man in midfield will be. Against a defensively brilliant and counter-attacking outfit like Atletico, it was Thiago, who is the far better man when it comes to defending. Against teams with less attacking and defensive qualities such as FSV Mainz (3-1), who Bayern met in their last Bundesliga game, it was Mueller. But even when the position is filled by Thiago, the role is more attacking-minded - even more so when Mueller is playing.

The new Bayern dual system allows the wingers to concentrate on their jobs down the flanks and give spearhead Lewandowski support. So far under Ancelotti, the flank-man had to move to the center to give support to Lewandowski as the team could not close the gap between midfield and the strikers.

It seems Bayern could well now be ready for the up-coming challenges of the knock out stage of the Champions League in spring next year. "Against Atletico, we were better in stopping our opponent from pressurizing us," Bayern defender Mats Hummels said. "We came up with more surprises," Robben said.

Tuesday's game was a little low-key as both the table-topping Spaniards (15 points) and Bayern, who finished the group in second place with 12 points, had already qualified for the next round. The game though was a tough test for the Germans as they had to overcome perhaps Europe's best defensive side. Bayern's performance was far from perfect, but it was another step.

Until now Bayern was far from happy at having to play Atletico. They not only lost the recent match in Madrid but also suffered a painful Champions League semifinal defeat against them last season under Guardiola. This time (with the new system) Bayern managed to control the game, score the winning goal with a Lewandowski strike form a free kick and keep Atletico's fast strikers at bay.

As for Lewandowski, the Polish striker also stands for a revitalized Bayern. So far, the 27-year-old was known as world class when it came to goal scoring in the box. In Mainz and against Atletico, Lewandowski found the net with dead ball situations outside the box.

"I've been practicing free kicks intensively for the last two months," he said and announced the pregnancy of his wife. "Yes we will be parents early next year," Lewandowski said.

Bayern and Ancelotti seem to be reaping the rewards of trying something new and it bodes well for when the Champion League comes to a crunch next spring. Endit