Midfielder Nicolas Höfler from SC Freiburg has no understanding for the emotional jubilation of soccer player Joshua Kimmich from FC Bayern Munich. “He should be happy about the three points and not provoke the opposing fans,” said Höfler on Saturday after his team’s 1-0 defeat in the Bundesliga. Four days earlier, Freiburg had reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup in Munich with a 2-1 win.
SC central defender Matthias Ginter said about national team teammate Kimmich: “He cheered in front of our fans and provoked them a bit. But I don’t know why and why he did it. In the end, these are just emotions and we don’t have them now cheered in front of the Bayern fans on Tuesday. That’s the way it is.” Freiburg coach Christian Streich didn’t want to overrate the scene, but he didn’t find the action appropriate either. “It probably had something to do with the fact that we beat Bayern on Tuesday. Nobody expected that,” said Streich on Sky. “Perhaps the pressure was so great that he did it. (…) We didn’t run into the Bayern curve after our win, if I remember correctly. But maybe it will be again with Bayern something else because they rarely lose.”
Kimmich justified his celebration after the game. “When we warmed up, there was a ten-minute film about the quarter-finals, how we got kicked out,” said the 28-year-old in an interview with TV station Sport1. “Of course it goes deep, it hurts too. You’re right, you won. On the other hand, it was a certain provocation. In the end I let myself be carried away. You don’t do that normally.”
His trainer Thomas Tuchel protected Kimmich. “In the end, that’s part of it,” said the coach. “Of course we won’t get back the cup win by winning today, but we were all angry about losing. Something like that can happen, the game was super close.”
FCB goalkeeper Yann Sommer also jumped to the side of his team-mate. “There was a pack formation and emotions are part of this game,” said the Swiss. “We put in a lot of effort. The opponent made life difficult for us. Emotions run high in the end when you narrowly win the game.”
Tabelle Destiny SC Freiburg Destiny FC Bayern München
