At FC Bayern there is helplessness after the embarrassing cup exit in Saarbrücken. Just when things seemed to be constantly improving again, the Munich team fell back into old patterns. Our editor believes that this is a disgrace for the previously highly praised stars on the pitch.
On Wednesday evening, the FC Bayern fans who had traveled with us had a need to speak. No wonder: For the fourth time in a row, the cup final in Berlin will take place without the record winner – the last time that happened was in the 1990s.
Within a few days, coach Thomas Tuchel’s team showed that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are equally in her: A lousy first half in the league game against Darmstadt and Kimmich-Rot was followed by a world-class half with eight goals, only to fall back into slack mode shortly afterwards against an individually much weaker opponent .
Saarbrücken is currently not even one of the top teams in the 3rd league and is only just above the relegation zone after a third of the season.
What was particularly striking in the euphoric Ludwigsparkstadion was how surprised the indisposed Bayern stars were by the opponent’s poisonous approach. Leroy Sané and Alphonso Davies in particular were completely lost (sport.de-Grade 5.5 each).
Some visiting players simply seemed to lack the seriousness necessary for a cup fight under floodlights. The fact that Harry Kane, of all people who was not used, received a lot of malice afterwards – keyword curse – is particularly ironic, as the system failure in Saarbrücken made it all too clear that the offensive and mentally strong new signing is already completely irreplaceable.
In his absence, Bayern seemed carefree at times, almost arrogant. The punishment followed immediately. Why? None of the protagonists could really explain this afterward.
Either way, an unexpected blow in the neck before the Bundesliga classic against BVB. For a long time, the Dortmund team was accused of having a stubborn mentality problem – with a win on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) they could do their part to ensure that the debate takes place on Säbener Straße from now on.
Heiko Lütkehus