After Thomas Tuchel’s championship “congratulations” to Bayer Leverkusen with a sweet and sour smile, the Bayern professionals had a frustrating Easter holiday. “Actually, everything was missing from the first to the last minute. I never had the feeling that we really wanted to win,” said the badly shaken Joshua Kimmich after the 2-0 defeat in the German Clásico against Borussia Dortmund with an alarming undertone. “We now have two days off. Everyone has a little time to think about it.”
Sports director Max Eberl sent clear words to the disappointing professionals after the inexplicable next drop in performance in Munich. “Of course you can throw the next coach out and say, again the next coach and again the next coach. But it’s the boys on the pitch who have to stand there and perform,” said the 50-year-old. “We know that they all have quality and we emphasize it every time. But you also have to show it in the game.” In any case, it won’t work if we advance in the Champions League quarter-finals against Arsenal FC.
Bayern lack “energy and power”
Tuchel was dismayed. “There weren’t enough of us in the elementary basics that you need to be good,” complained the 50-year-old. “I thought we couldn’t go back to that point. I obviously wasn’t right.”
The statements from Sven Ulreich, who represented the injured Manuel Neuer in the Munich goal, were also worrying. “Energy and power” were missing, said the 35-year-old. “As a team, we have to question ourselves as to how we can endure a season like this.” When Kimmich appeared on the pitch, he felt reminded of “a friendly game” and not of the prestigious classic.
The defeat due to goals from Karim Adeyemi and Julian Ryerson once again underlined that FC Bayern urgently needs new player impulses after an immense lack of coaching recently. Who will be the coach of this star ensemble is currently the most pressing question for Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund. “I actually wrote to friends of mine: ‘You’re looking for eggs on Sunday and I’m looking for the trainer.’ The work continues,” said Eberl with a smile in an interview on ZDF’s “Sportstudio”.
Eberl and the Nagelsmann question
Eberl was not tempted by whether national coach Julian Nagelsmann could make a spectacular comeback. “I know that the whole public is interested in this and that everyone wants to share in the thoughts we have,” said Eberl.
Nagelsmann is tied to the DFB until after the home European Championships in the summer. The 36-year-old made it clear that he would like to have his future clarified before the European Championships. “Association or club,” Nagelsmann mentioned as options a year after leaving Bayern. It would be pretty crazy if Tuchel’s successor became his predecessor Nagelsmann.
After the designated master coach Xabi Alonso said yes to another year in Leverkusen, a preferred candidate is definitely off the market. “I’ve said it often enough, we’ll check it out and that’s why Xabi’s decision no longer affected me at all because we had been traveling somewhere else for a long time,” said Eberl. Roberto De Zerbi from English first division club Brighton
Bayern even have to look in the rearview mirror
The gap to league leaders Leverkusen, who have been invincible this season, has grown to 13 points. The Bayern protagonists repeatedly emphasized that the championship would only be decided when mathematically nothing worked. But no one really believes in the twelfth title in a row anymore.
Rather, one should “look in the rearview mirror at what is happening,” warned Eberl. “We should do our homework, win our games and secure the Champions League.” The lead over fifth place is ten points.
There are only three for BVB, but they are on track to achieve their minimum goal. “This has to make us even more hungry,” said coach Edin Terzic before “extremely important weeks.” These services must be made “a habit”. In the fight for the premier class qualification and for the quarter-finals there against Atlético Madrid, the first league success in ten years in Munich brings a lot of self-confidence. “This was an important victory, but we know that we still have many important games in the next few weeks,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl.
