With a petrified expression, Thomas Tuchel walked quickly into the Munich night after the cup shock. After less than two weeks in office, the 49-year-old coach of FC Bayern Munich has to tick off the first title in the triple wish. “Bitter evening for us,” said Tuchel after the 2-1 draw in the quarter-finals of the cup against SC Freiburg. “It will keep us busy for a while, but we have to digest it and learn our lessons from it.” Despite the mood dampener, Tuchel held on to the training-free Wednesday after the many hardships of his stars in the past few days.
The joy of the impressive win against Borussia Dortmund and the return to the top of the table in the Bundesliga quickly faded into the background after the cup pain. And the defeat against the Breisgauer immediately increased the importance of the upcoming quarter-finals in the Champions League next week against Manchester City. You have to take the anger about the cup out, passion and will with you into the duel against City, said manager Joshua Kimmich with a view to seeing his ex-coach Pep Guardiola again.
“At the end of the day, it just pisses me off the more titles we lose,” Kimmich quarreled. The 28-year-old sounded critical tones. You play with a “tick too little passion, a little too little emotion,” said the international.
The guests didn’t miss that when they cheered. The people of Breisgau danced euphorically around their cup hero Lucas Höler, who converted the penalty in a dramatic final phase (90.5). It was Freiburg’s first win ever in Munich. In front of 75,000 spectators, the Freiburg team countered the opening goal by Dayot Upamecano with a header and physical effort (19′) with a dream goal from Nicolas Höfler (27′).
“It really hurts because you can’t fix anything. But somehow we have to swallow, even if it’s not going down yet,” said Bayern captain Thomas Müller. “This joke, the last contact” was missing on the offensive. “We have to put up with a few questions up front,” added Müller self-critically.
National player Jamal Musiala was inconsolable, having caused the hand penalty to make it 2-1 in added time. After the dramatic end, the Munich youngster crept off the field with his head down, and his buddy Alphonso Davies couldn’t console him either. The offensive star didn’t let SC coach Christian Streich contact him visibly – Musiala was too disappointed. “Jamal is not a defender,” said defender Matthijs de Ligt. “I’m sure Jamal will learn from this.”
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