Anyone who watched FC Bayern Munich’s Champions League game against Lazio Rome on Tuesday evening (March 5th) might not have believed their eyes. On the one hand, the German record champions now played surprisingly confidently after recent poor performances and moved safely into the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win. On the other hand, current coach Thomas Tuchel (50) was unusually passive on the sidelines and did not get up from the bench. After the game it became clear why that was the case: Apparently Tuchel gave such a passionate motivational speech before the game that he suffered a fracture.
The coach at least made this self-diagnosis at the subsequent press conference: “I kicked in a door and, I think, broke a toe – at least that’s how it feels. Very painful, […] but everything is fine. This I was very happy to make sacrifices.” He apparently tried to keep his injury a secret from his players, as he also revealed after the final whistle: “They don’t even know yet. They were probably surprised that I sat for 90 minutes.”
Attentive viewers were able to see during the broadcast on Prime Video that Tuchel was literally not running smoothly. During half-time, he could be seen having problems climbing down a flight of stairs in the players’ tunnel. And on the bench he treated his injured foot with ice spray, which is usually used by players after painful fouls and duels.
As is well known, whoever suffers the damage does not have to be ridiculed. And so Thomas Müller (34) joked about his coach’s strange injury: “There’s always a bit of wastage. Professional sport is always narrow.”
Meanwhile, Tuchel earned respect for his painful, incendiary speech from Bayern boss Jan-Christian Dreesen (56): “Thomas broke his toe today during the speech before the game – Thomas is on board with full enthusiasm and passion!”
On March 15th, Bayern will find out which team they will face in the quarterfinals. The games will then be drawn at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.
