Before the penultimate match day of the Bundesliga, Hertha coach Felix Magath criticized the three-day schedule for fear of possible distortion of competition.
“It irritates me. Now we have such a situation and we are in the middle of it, some are playing today, others on Sunday and we on Saturday, so it can be assumed again,” said Magath before the press conference of the Berliners before the game against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday (6.30 p.m./Sky and in the BZ live ticker).
The German Football League had changed the regulations for this season in order to improve TV marketing, so that the 33rd match day will also take place from Friday to Sunday. This was also confirmed by Hertha’s managing director Fredi Bobic. Only on the last day of the game are all games kicked off at the same time.
“I was surprised by that too. The only thing I knew was that the last two matchdays were played in parallel. It’s a mystery to me,” said Magath. The 68-year-old recalled the so-called “disgrace of Gijon” when the national teams of Germany – with Magath as a player – and Austria brought a 1-0 lead for the DFB-Elf in the 1982 World Cup preliminary round with a maximum passive style of play . Both teams progressed one round. “I just have the experience, I took part in a game, that there were big discussions afterwards,” said Magath.
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Hertha BSC can make the league perfect with a win against Mainz. In the event of a draw or a defeat, however, the results of Arminia Bielefeld at VfL Bochum on Friday and VfB Stuttgart at FC Bayern Munich on Sunday will play a role.
Magath put his criticism of Bayern’s poor performance at 1: 3 in Mainz after winning the title into perspective. “I think it was a no-brainer, we’ll all see the reaction at the weekend,” said the Hertha coach. For him it was a matter of “what is Hertha doing and not, what are Bayern doing and what is Bochum doing. We try to get the maximum out of it.”
dpa