Union Berlin: Bjelica speaks about violence against Bayern professional Sané

There is a risk of a longer ban

Coach Nenad Bjelica from 1. FC Union Berlin has expressed remorse after being sent off for assaulting Leroy Sané. “He pushed me, then I reacted the way I shouldn’t react with my hand on his face,” the 52-year-old said on Wednesday evening after Wednesday evening’s 1-0 defeat at FC Bayern.

Bjelica had seen red because he caught Sané twice in the face. It was the big excitement of the Bundesliga game. “It’s not my place to judge,” commented Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel. The Berlin bench had previously loudly complained about what they believed to be a penalty-worthy foul by Konrad Laimer on striker Kevin Behrens (72′) in the guests’ only strong offensive scene. Bjelica didn’t calm down after that. “I was a bit upset,” he said on the pay TV channel “Sky”. But his behavior was “not okay. What I did cannot be tolerated. I understand the red card.” Sané got away with a yellow card.

“I want to give him the ball. He pushed me in my room, then of course I reacted,” explained Bjelica. He had to apologize to his own team. “Not with Sané. He comes into the room to provoke me.” But that doesn’t excuse the fact that he didn’t react appropriately, said the Croatian. A ban awaits him. “I will prepare the team until Sunday and then we will see how the game goes,” he said. He couldn’t estimate how long he would be banned. In any case, he will be missing from the duel with Darmstadt 98 on Sunday (3:30 p.m.).

“I believe that you don’t have to defend a grown man. He knows that his fuse has blown. Sané provoked cleverly, he wanted to give him the ball, but it missed him. “Still, he can’t get carried away, there are no two opinions,” said Union defender Kevin Vogt. And teammate Robin Gosens said: “It is clear that it is not beneficial. We’re already in a phase where we need all the support we can get, where we need our coach on the sidelines to motivate us, coach us and be there. If he then flies off the pitch with a red card, it’s not a good signal to the team and makes them even more insecure.” He hopes for a short suspension “because we depend on our coach.”

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