Thomas Tuchel smiled, said goodbye to Wolfsburg coach Ralph Hasenhüttl and then disappeared with a wave towards the catacombs.
On his last day of work as Bayern coach in the Allianz Arena, the 50-year-old was happy about the victory he had hoped for. However, the easy and relaxed 2-0 (2-0) in the Bundesliga against a harmless VfL Wolfsburg was only of limited use in dispelling Tuchel and the Munich stars’ Champions League frustration from Madrid.
“We were very strong for a total of 15, 20, 25 minutes. After that it was over,” said Tuchel on DAZN, summing up his time at Bayern: “We gave it our all. We set out to collect as many titles as possible, We didn’t manage to do that this season.” After the game, he signed autographs for the waiting fans on the sidelines.
View of the Champions League final in Munich
The 19-year-old starting eleven debutant Lovro Zvonarek (4th minute) and national player Leon Goretzka (13th) scored the goals for the badly depleted Bayern team around captain Manuel Neuer. “It could have been 4-0 for the first 20 or 30 minutes. We weren’t able to stop Bayern at all,” said Wolfsburg coach Hasenhüttl soberly. “We were using wooden swords, that’s not enough against Bayern.”
With this success, the record champions pushed VfB Stuttgart back from second place in the table. The team said goodbye to the home fans this season on a tour of the stadium, and Harry Kane, who was missing due to injury, also walked across the lawn with his children.
“We are happy that we were able to play another nice game,” said Thomas Müller. The end of the premier class hurts, “but that’s a thing of the past.” It will still take some time to come to terms with the missed final, emphasized Neuer and was already looking ahead to the Champions League final in 2025: “But next year we have a final here at home. We are working on getting there again.”
Bavaria without Musiala and Co.
Neuer, the unlucky man who missed the new Wembley final against Borussia Dortmund, spent a largely unoccupied 500th Bundesliga game four days after his momentous mistake in the 2-1 win against Real Madrid. After 73 minutes, Neuer called it a day – Bundesliga debutant Daniel Peretz replaced him in goal. “That was agreed upon beforehand,” explained Neuer. “Daniel has given the team so much over the season, he deserves to get the minutes.”
Surprisingly, there was no official farewell to Tuchel before kick-off in the sold-out arena. Reason: It’s still about the runner-up. The Servus to Tuchel should be made up for “duly” after the last game of the season at TSG Hoffenheim, as the stadium announcer specifically announced. Tuchel will be fine. The day before, he had said at a farewell ceremony: “You don’t need to hand over flowers to terminate your contract early without a title.”
Tuchel preferred to do his job on the sidelines in a tracksuit – and his players on the pitch. But who was kicking? No Kane, no Musiala, no Sané and no Gnabry, all of whom were missing due to injury or injury. Dier, de Ligt and Laimer also sat fully or partially on the substitutes’ bench. Tuchel moved to Madrid eight times.
Lazy performance from Wolfsburg
The eternal Thomas Müller led a very young offensive with Mathys Tel, winter signing Bryan Zaragoza and talent Zvonarek from Bavaria’s regional league team. And the young Croatian was immediately cheered by the 75,000 spectators. Müller cleverly passed a pass from Alphonso Davies to Zvonarek. The 19-year-old hit a deliberate and placed shot from 15 meters, the ball bounced off the inside post and into the net.
Against a weak Wolfsburg team, which is still waiting for a win in Munich even after its 27th guest appearance, Bayern still had an easy game: cross from Zaragoza, header from Zvonarek to Müller, lay-off on Goretzka – goal. Everything like in training. Zaragoza’s third goal was conceded by the video assistant (18′). After that, the one-sided game sputtered along.
And that even after the break. Bayern no longer had to, Wolfsburg couldn’t and didn’t want to. The Lower Saxony team performed as if they were already on their summer break. And Tuchel? A few more days of training and one last game as FC Bayern coach await him. But he would have wanted this in London – and not in Sinsheim.
