A few more campaigns in a less demanding league would have been an option, too, a spell of semi-retirement on which many of his contemporaries have embarked, in order to secure one last big pay check. Lahm, however, wasn't interested.

Not many players voluntarily walk away from a €12 million wage packet one year early but, then again, few players are honest enough with themselves to look at their own game objectively and draw conclusions. The 33-year-old wanted to finish his career well in advance of being finished. Even life as a slightly diminished force was intolerable for a man of such exacting standards.

Over the last few months, a good two years after retiring from international duty as a World Cup winner, the top full-back of his generation had slowly come to the realisation that he could no longer play at his best at club level beyond the current season.

That undoubtedly painful realisation left him with no choice but to call it a day and Lahm told reporters as much after Bayern's 1-0 win over Wolfsburg in the DFB-Pokal last 16 on Tuesday night: "I'm someone who believes in leading by example, by performing," he said.

Could Bayern and / or Ancelotti have changed his mind by moving him inside again, into the physically less exerting position as a deep controller that he played so brilliantly under Pep Guardiola? Lahm denied that it would have made any difference.

His incredible consistency, strategic mind and professionalism will certainly be missed and the very best efforts of technical director Michael Reschke to sign an adequate replacement in the summer -- Benjamin Henrichs of Bayer Leverkusen is the prime candidate -- will still not succeed in filling the gap Lahm leaves.

He understood better than anyone the impossible demands of playing for Bayern. He epitomised self-confidence, commitment to the cause and wining mentality. Seven Bundesliga championships, six DFB-Pokal wins and a Champions League adorn the medal collection of one of Germany's all-time greats. The national team's renaissance also owed much to his appearance on the international scene.

Lahm's goal, in the wake of the World Cup triumph at the Maracana, has been to lift the European Cup for a second time and he might still achieve it. It's extremely tempting, however, to interpret his decision to retire this summer as a vote of no confidence, as far as the team's future prospects in Europe are concerned. A Bayern team firing on all cylinders right now, instead of serving up mostly laboured fare, might have persuaded him to give it one last shot next season.

Bayern knew of Lahm's intentions for some time, but an announcement would only be made once a second, more contentious issue had been resolved: Lahm's future as sporting director at the club.

In November, Executive Board chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had told members at the club's AGM that the position vacated by Matthias Sammer would be filled by the summer of 2017, which all but confirmed Lahm's move upstairs.

Returning president Uli Hoeness, however, was less convinced that the player was suited for an immediate start in such an important position. His preference was for Max Eberl, the experienced Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director, to take the post.

It's fair to say the two Bayern bosses are still getting used to sharing power after Hoeness' re-election as president. They agreed on a compromise, an offer of a sporting director-lite position without a seat on the board, but that wasn't enough; Lahm wanted to have real responsibility and the power to shape the transition of Bayern's squad.

Thus, he turned the club down on Friday, as Hoeness revealed to Funke Mediengruppe on Wednesday morning. Everybody agreed to keep the news under wraps, in order not to deflect from Saturday's important league game against Schalke.

But the self-imposed embargo didn't keep. On Tuesday night, Sport-Bild's Bayern reporter Christian Falk broke the story of Lahm's retirement and "no" to the club. The matter had been raised at the Bayern plc's supervisory board meeting the previous night, at which Hoeness was also re-elected, consolidating his position of power.

When Lahm, perhaps put under pressure by Sport-Bild's scoop, went off script to confirm the news himself after the final whistle at the Allianz Arena, his bosses were not best pleased. A club press release on Wednesday spoke of Bayern being "surprised" by "the approach of Lahm and his advisor" -- code for "rather angry" -- and went on to pointedly state that "until yesterday, (the club had) assumed that there would be a joint announcement".

Such disagreements and minor fallouts are nothing new at Bayern, though; the club used to be known as "FC Hollywood" for a reason. Anger about the captain's solo effort, whether fully justified or not, will surely subside in due course and well before the time the season is over.

The rather atypical, disconcerting communication mishap is perhaps emblematic of the behind-the-scenes disquiet that has engulfed Sabener Strasse since Hoeness' re-appearance but, in the long-run, a clean break for Lahm might well work out in both his and the club's interest.

He will soon have a clear head and schedule to tend to a number of businesses he has set up and amass valuable experience in the corporate world. Lahm's stock (no pun intended) could therefore rise further before Rummenigge steps down as CEO in a few years' time.

It's simply inconceivable that a player of Lahm's background and intellect should not be part of the set-up of a club, which has historically done better than any other when it comes to harnessing the expertise of former greats.