BERLIN (AFP) - Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann insisted on Sunday the hype around Bayern Munich's "dream team" will only be justified if the German giants win the Champions League in the next two years.
Bayern splashed out 69 million euros on a summer spending spree to recruit players like French star Franck Ribery, Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni and German striker Miroslav Klose, with much fanfare.
But Lehmann, 37, Germany's number one goalkeeper, says the hype around Bayern's reconstruction is unjustified and they will have proved nothing until they win a Champions League title to be European champions for the fifth time.
After finishing fourth in last year's Bundesliga, Bayern missed out on a Champions League place for the first time in 11 years and will contest the UEFA Cup this season.
"The hype around Bayern is exaggerated," Lehmann told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag after Bayern opened their Bundesliga campaign on Saturday with a 3-0 win over newly-promoted Hansa Rostock.
"Whether they are good enough to win the Champions League remains to be seen, because there are so many strong teams.
"Only two of them (Ribery and Toni) played in last year's World Cup final.
"A world star only really makes his mark in the Champions League, where the competition is fierce.
"So, for example, a player like Philipp Lahm, who always plays well in the Champions League, is a real world star."
There has been much speculation the 46-times capped Lehmann will play out his career back in Germany and with three young children, the former Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund star admitted he wants them to be brought up in his homeland.
"The Bundesliga is an interesting league," he said.
"For our children, it would also be good to live in Germany.
"The future prospects for children in Germany are shining, because there are less children there and with a good education, they will have a better chance of a good life."
Having ousted former captain Oliver Kahn from the German team, Lehmann is under pressure from talented 22-year-old Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to keep his place in the Arsenal team.
But the German says his country have as good a chance as anyone of winning the Euro 2008 title, providing they continue their so-far successful qualifying campaign.
Germany top Group D by five points from rivals the Czech Republic and face qualifying away games against Wales and the Republic of Ireland in the next two months.
"At the European Championships, there are only a few games and you really have to make your mark," said Lehmann.
"And we rank alongside the likes of Italy, France, England and Holland amongst the top favourites."