RB Leipzig’s sporting director Max Eberl reacted very emotionally to the abusive posters against himself and his previous burnout.
“I would be interested to know if these people know exactly what burnout means. Burnout means that people work themselves out until they can no longer and beyond this point,” said Eberl on Saturday after the 0-0 in the Bundesliga 1. FC Cologne.
Some of those affected “drown it in alcohol, some take drugs, some kill themselves. That’s the hard truth,” said Eberl, who resigned as Managing Director Sport at Borussia Mönchengladbach in January 2022, citing acute exhaustion and burnout as the reasons. He has been with RB since December 1, 2022.
Cologne’s sports director Christian Keller distanced himself from the posters. Some would have been directed against the RB Leipzig construct. “But if individuals are discriminated against, that’s not the values of 1. FC Köln,” he said.
“I wasn’t the only one who was ill. There are many other people who have these issues,” Eberl explained: “And if you’re constantly confronted in public with being ridiculed and ridiculed, it’s clear to me that don’t put people down and say, ‘Listen, I’m sick’.”
People who mock those affected “should think twice about whether what they are doing is right”. He’s “zero point zero about me. I stand above it, I fought my way out there,” said Eberl: “Every other person has this chance too. I want to show that it’s possible and also show that it means strength, Admitting weaknesses, and when parts of society think they’re exploiting that weakness, stepping on it, that’s sad.”
Effzeh fans insult Eberl
Eberl, who is viewed particularly critically in Cologne because of his Gladbach past, was denigrated and insulted by FC fans with several posters. It was also explicitly about the burnout disease of the 49-year-old. He has “never had such experiences since his return to professional football,” said Eberl.
“I would wish that many more people would get up and say how they are doing and also say when it’s no longer possible,” he emphasized: “I had to do it, otherwise I might have ended up somewhere else, and there I just don’t want to be. My body told me, my mind, at some point the end will be reached.”