Out of the DFB Cup, out of the Champions League, and then the championship lead was gone. At FC Bayern Munich, the house blessing was crooked recently. Now there is an unexpected chance in the game against Hertha BSC because Bundesliga competitor Borussia Dortmund has blundered.
You really couldn’t count on the fact that BVB could only maintain the lead in the table they conquered on the last matchday for a week. BVB missed important points in the 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum on Friday (April 28th, 2023).
With a win against the bottom of the table in Berlin on Sunday (from 3.20 p.m. live on the radio report on sportschau.de), Bayern could then overtake BVB again and regain the lead.
Bayern coach Tuchel wants 15 points
Would everything be fine then? Rather not. In Thomas Tuchel’s first seven games as coach, Bayern have lost three. Most recently they were unsuccessful in Mainz, which nobody expected. The crux of the matter is the lack of consistency.
“The goal now has to be to get 15 points. If we continue to play like this, so unstable, then we won’t succeed.”, says Tuchel. Ten years in a row they were champions in Munich, for an eleventh title they have to stretch a lot. They owe the fact that they could now lead the table again to a slip by Dortmund. And they have to win against Hertha BSC first.
Uli Hoeneß on the training ground
The Bayern crisis recently even called Uli Hoeneß onto the scene. Hoeneß was a lot at Bayern: player, manager, chairman of the board, president. He was always powerful. Today Hoeneß, 71, is no longer president, but honorary president. He is still powerful. The excitement was also great when Hoeneß suddenly appeared on the training ground on Wednesday.
When Tuchel was asked two days later what exactly Hoeneß wanted, he said: “He really just wanted to tell me who was playing at the weekend – I saw that right away.”
Of course it was a joke, obviously Tuchel, 49, hasn’t lost his sense of humor. Otherwise he has already lost a lot. Actually, he had become a coach in Munich at the end of March to save Bayern the season. Everyone likes to win titles: Champions League, DFB Cup, Bundesliga.
What Bayern and Hertha have in common
Only victories help FC Bayern now – and they have that in common with their opponents from Berlin. But that was it with the similarities. Hertha is bottom of the table, three points behind relegation place 16 and six points behind in 15th place.
But they had such big plans in Berlin: the Windhorst millions, “Big City Club”, everyone knew. And the past again. Lars Windhorst is no longer with Hertha, and they no longer want to know anything about the “Big City Club”. Doesn’t fit so well with the development of a club that has to tremble again to stay up in the Bundesliga.
After all, there is a new hope in the final sprint, it’s an old acquaintance: Pal Dardai, 47, has twice saved Hertha from relegation, but his third rescue mission began last weekend with a 2-4 defeat against Werder Bremen. And now Bayern are still waiting.
“Bayern is a hungry lion”, said Dardai, and he probably meant: hungry lions are dangerous animals, one should beware of them. There are simpler tasks in German football.