After three weeks, Thomas Tuchel’s record is sobering: home bankruptcy in the DFB Cup, and there is also a risk of losing the Champions League after the defeat at Manchester City. The criticism of the Bayern bosses is growing.
Not only the sky over Manchester poured over FC Bayern on Tuesday evening. Thomas Tuchel’s team also received a cold shower in sport, the 0: 3 in the quarter-final first leg at Manchester City nipped the title dreams in the Champions League in the bud. After the second blow to the neck in Tuchel’s young Bayern era, the Bayern leadership is now also under pressure.
Because Tuchel was brought in three weeks ago by CEO Oliver Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic to play all three major titles. “Since we saw the goals for this and next season in jeopardy, we came to the conclusion that we should release Julian (Nagelsmann, editor’s note).”
When he took office, Tuchel emphasized that Nagelsmann made sure “that we are still able to win all the titles at the end of March”. In mid-April it is clear: Of the three possible titles, only the German championship is a realistic goal. In the DFB Cup, the record champions were duped by SC Freiburg, in the Champions League Pep Guardiola and City were a size too big.
City misses FC Bayern “three slaps”
The game in Manchester was balanced for a long time and Bayern played well for an hour. But after Dayot Upamecano blacked out and the 0: 2 (70th) the entire Bayern team began to falter – Erling Haaland (76th) scored the 0: 3 final score, which could have been higher.
“A hurricane” had swept over Bayern, headlined the Spanish newspaper Marca. The AS spoke of “destruction” and the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport of “a soccer lesson and three slaps for Bayern”.
Tuchel is “in love with shock”
“We are now with a very bitter result. But I refuse to badmouth the performance,” Tuchel clarified after the game and followed up with a passionate plea for his team: “I fell in love with my team. We were emotionally, we defended ourselves and then improved again after the break. I think we deserved a good result, even if it sounds stupid now.”
Tuchel’s statements caused confusion, including among Bayern fans online. “So if a coach is happy with a 3-0 defeat and shocked, what can you say about that?” wrote “Fliegenfischer”. “Lugh3” agreed: “Instead of going through an era with the most talented coach, you fail at great cost. The fish stinks from the head.”
Criticism of leadership grows: “Debate contains explosive material”
What is meant is the leadership of FC Bayern. Has the much-discussed change of coach fizzled out after just four games and two defeats? “You can ask Hasan about that. I won’t comment on that. The debate is explosive,” said Bayern star Thomas Müller when asked.
The question to Salihamidzic, who is mainly responsible for the coaching decision, was answered reservedly by the sports director: “The results in the cup and in the Champions League were not right. Nevertheless, we saw that we were playing good football. We need a little time .”
The title ambitions, which were still so great three weeks ago, were revised downwards by CEO Oliver Kahn in the evening: “We have a great opportunity to become German champions. It’s all very, very close.” “It doesn’t look so good” for the second leg against the Citizens. There was no fire speech or declaration of war from the Bayern boss in the traditional banquet speech: “We have a duty to throw in everything that is possible in this second leg.”
Before the second leg on April 19 (9 p.m. / live report to listen to), the focus is now on the last realistic chance for the title and the Bundesliga home game against TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / live report to listen to).
