Bielefeld (dpa) – After the premature rescue of Hertha BSC slipped out of his fingers, Felix Magath ran into a taunt against his ex-club. The veteran coach wore his own smug smile on his lips.
“FC Bayern is already a champion, but the season goes until the last day of the game. For everyone,” said the 68-year-old after the 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld on Sky: “I don’t know why a team says we’re playing This time the season doesn’t end, but ends three weeks beforehand.”
His colleague Julian Nagelsmann, who was half his age, was not happy about the move, which could certainly be understood as an accusation of distorting competition. But he saw through the game quickly. That was “very clever of him,” said the Bayern coach: “But he should watch the game and then he can call me.”
Magath’s criticism has now been fueled by media reports that numerous Bayern stars are said to have made a short trip to Ibiza with the club’s permission. “What should I say about that,” said Magath to “Bild”: “I definitely wouldn’t allow something like that, it wouldn’t have crossed my mind. A championship celebration is understandable once, but not for three weeks.”
Boateng wants to “close the bag”
The background to Magath’s statements seemed clear. A week after the championship celebration, Bayern surprisingly lost 3-1 in Mainz. And in the coming week, Magath’s Berliners may need the support of fully motivated Bayern Munich opponents against relegation rivals VfB Stuttgart. However, Magath’s statements were hardly absolutely necessary, maybe even counterproductive. Because Hertha, who was saved for 40 minutes on Saturday, has a four-point lead over the Swabians on the relegation place. In the event of a win against Mainz, the Berliners would not have to look to Munich at all.
“We now have a home game in which we can close the sack,” said veteran Kevin-Prince Boateng with a firm voice.
Magath’s motivation for opening a sideshow was not necessarily based on a belief in one’s own strength. Just like the fact that he – actually meant to be funny – talked about a relegation. “When I took on this job, I was sure that we would play against HSV in the relegation,” said Magath, referring to his heart club, where he had worked for 20 years: “I’m not working towards that, but it would me shouldn’t be surprised if this constellation came about.”
Stable under Magath
But that will only happen if Stuttgart gets something in Munich and Hertha doesn’t do its job. But under Magath, the Berliners seem stable. Only Bielefeld’s Joakim Nilsson equalized in added time prevented the third clean sheet win in a row. When asked what Magath had made of the Berliners, Boateng replied: “Machines.” By the way, the Hertha players didn’t go into the curve again after the game. The dispute with the Ultras, who asked players to take off their jerseys after the derby defeat against Union, apparently continues to have an effect.
The Bielefeld side, on the other hand, let their fans celebrate for a long time on Saturday. Despite 17th place. Despite only two points and three goals from the last nine games. But until the equalizer, Arminia seemed to have descended. Now hope is alive again. “The whole time we had in mind: If you lose here, you’re out,” said ex-national player Gonzalo Castro: “That’s why the point can give us a kick. Now we’re playing in Bochum on Friday. We can really put pressure on them build up. And Stuttgart has to go to Bayern on Saturday. Then we’ll see how it goes afterwards.”
Arminia also needs highly motivated Bavarians next week. Actually even more than Hertha. But there were no taunts towards Munich from East Westphalia.