Bastian Schweinsteiger appealed to the stars of FC Bayern and the German national soccer team to embody values.
“You have to live it. You don’t have to talk about it, you have to live it,” said the former Munich world-class player. Achievements are important, “but the way you play football is also important.”
“You have to have the values you represent, especially the Mia-san-Mia gene, but also for the national team, you have to have the virtues that many other countries have envied us for – you have to push them a bit forward,” said Schweinsteiger, who also analyzes international matches as a TV expert. The 38-year-old won the world championship with Germany in Brazil in 2014.
Bayern Honorary President Uli Hoeneß and coach Thomas Tuchel had previously wished for more physicality. Hoeneß said that not every team could “solve everything in a playful way” like the Champions League winner Manchester City coached by Pep Guardiola.
“In my opinion, the one-on-one training will be very important. We have to play German football again, and both the German national team for the European Championship and FC Bayern will have to do their part.”
Tuchel would like something similar. “It’s been said several times that we’ve lacked toxicity and physicality in the games since I’ve been a coach. That’s undisputed. We know that and we’re trying to stop it,” said the 49-year-old before the Asia trip.
FC Bayern: Schweinsteiger hopes for success under Tuchel
Tuchel is an “excellent coach,” said Schweinsteiger. “I hope that the team will find the style of play that FC Bayern stands for and is successful.”
During and after last season, the Munich team parted ways with CEO Oliver Kahn, sports director Hasan Salihamidzic and coach Julian Nagelsmann.
“If the CEO, the sports director and the coach are fired, that means that a few things didn’t go the way people at Bayern imagine,” said Schweinsteiger. “You should also put that aside. The new season is slowly starting.”