Before the Bundesliga top game, the situation at Bayern is tense. The defense chief is missing against Union, coach Julian Nagelsmann wants to have better control. After all: A superstar returns to the squad. Meanwhile, boss Oliver Kahn has given clear guidelines.
Referee fright Julian Nagelsmann gave the repentant sinner and promised improvement with a distressed expression. “I have to restrain myself in certain situations,” said the Bayern Munich coach self-critically, “and steer my emotions in other directions.” And as soon as possible: In the top Bundesliga game against the high-flyers from Union Berlin on Sunday (5.30 p.m. / DAZN and in the live ticker on ntv.de) a win is needed – otherwise the seething powder keg “FC Hollywood” threatens to explode fly.
The most recent defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the tense situation at the top of the table, the huge fuss about the referee’s scolding by Nagelsmann, plus recent headlines about the undisciplined Leroy Sané: The situation with the German record champions is highly explosive. CEO Oliver Kahn felt compelled to shake the stars up with several requests to speak before the cracker first versus third. No doubt: the bosses are nervous.
Nagelsmann experiences hectic times, the hustle and bustle about his verbal derailment (“softened pack”) seems to have left its mark. “I’m still looking for peace,” he said on Friday. In the top game of opposites, “we all have a duty. The formula is as simple as it is complex: If you win, there’s peace – if not, there’s no peace. So we should win.”
Then he wouldn’t have to scold the referee again like he did in Gladbach. His attack cost him a fine of 50,000 euros – not a “mild” punishment, as Nagelsmann emphasized. He was annoyed about it, “but I accepted it because it was a mistake”. What is important to him: He did not “consciously” insult Tobias Welz and his referee team in order to “department attack”. Claiming this is “complete nonsense”. He is like that, “if I don’t win, I get emotional”.
The best antidote is victories – especially against a rival in the title race, as Nagelsmann sees in the upstart Union. It’s about “putting a direct competitor at a distance,” he said of the tied capitals. “Playing on them,” he knows despite Bayern’s four wins and three draws in seven duels, “isn’t that easy, you can’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Otherwise, Kahn should appear again. “Now the players have to show that they are Bayern Munich,” emphasized the CEO. Union offers “the perfect stage to prove to everyone: Nobody knows better than FC Bayern what to do in such a situation.” The former “Titan” thinks he knows the recipe for this after only nine points in six games since the restart: “Total willingness, greed, will and at the same time a certain lightness. If we put that on the pitch, we can’t be beat. “
Like Nagelsmann, the headlines about Sané should bother him all the more. The national player had missed the bus departure before the Gladbach game and had to come to the departure in a private car. This has no sporting consequences, said Nagelsmann, “we discuss everything else internally”.
He also “spoke long” with his “confidant” Thomas Müller, whom he gave a starting eleven guarantee after being substituted too early in Gladbach. Superstar Sadio Mané returns to the squad, Nagelsmann could switch to a back four in defense because of the red suspension against Dayot Upamecano. However, he emphasized that it was too early for panic reactions: “We are still in first place and have it in our own hands. The same applies in the DFB Cup and the Champions League.”
