BVB professional Haller: Missing the championship was more painful than a cancer diagnosis

BVB attacker

For BVB attacker Sébastien Haller, missing the championship was worse than his cancer diagnosis. “It’s really like this: missing the title causes me more pain than the cancer diagnosis did back then. If you’re sick, there’s nothing you can do about it. You have to accept it and go through it. But we had the title in our own hands, we could influence everything ourselves,” said the 29-year-old Ivorian international in an interview with “Sport Bild”. “In that case, you have to painfully accept that you may have made mistakes or made wrong decisions.”

After being diagnosed with testicular cancer in the summer of 2022, Haller made an impressive comeback in the second half of the season and was directly involved in 14 goals in 19 appearances. In the decisive game against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on the last matchday, he missed a penalty, the game ended 2-2 and FC Bayern Munich moved past Dortmund in the table and won the title. “Unsuccessful situations or missed opportunities wear on you. You think about what you could have done better. “But especially during my illness, I learned not to let negative things get to me so much,” he reported.

This season, Haller is still goalless after five games in the Bundesliga, and he scored twice in the first round of the cup. BVB coach Edin Terzic recently said that the striker’s form crisis “cannot be explained rationally” given his recent past. Part of Haller’s crisis can also be attributed to the team’s generally disappointing performances so far, explained Terzic.

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