Hasan Salihamidžić is shocked, Thomas Müller has never experienced anything like it: FC Bayern experienced a historic humiliation at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the DFB Cup. How is that to be explained? Well, after all, the club is not looking for excuses.
With every goal conceded by FC Bayern – small spoiler: there were a hell of a lot – the ridicule got bigger and bigger. And what kind of nasty mischief that was. Especially on social media. There the haters raised their verbal vaccines and sprayed their malicious joy and malice during and after the unbelievable Munich Cup disgrace at Borussia Mönchengladbach (0: 5) in all directions. A hit for every unvaccinated footballer, someone wrote. Evil but true. Because according to all that is known, five of the record champions’ pros have so far decided against the Corona Piks. The vaccinated non-Bayern fans were happy. The lateral thinkers outraged.
Others were outraged too. Namely all those who could not believe how mercilessly the ensemble was played by the Isar on the Lower Rhine. And only a few days after Uli Hoeneß had explained to the world how incredibly good this FC Bayern is these weeks. As good as “Hollywood” and as entertaining as an Elton John concert. He’s 74, recently had hip surgery and will soon be on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. Bayern did indeed remember the former Watford president this Wednesday. As stiff as they came along. Probably no one can explain this bizarre downfall of the super Bavarians. Was this performance, or rather non-performance, actually a side effect of the theater around the unvaccinated Joshua Kimmich?
If it was a side effect, it was a hell of a lot! A toxic one. Because nothing of what actually distinguishes FC Bayern could be seen in Borussia-Park. Without coach Julian Nagelsmann, who is still in quarantine due to his corona infection, the team surrendered to an astonishing defenselessness and fearfulness. Central defender Dayot Upamecano had a very bad evening. The best news for him was that he was allowed to leave the field after 55 minutes. He was so bad and overwhelmed. Lucas Hernández was only a touch better, who only learned a few hours before kick-off that he did not have to be detained in Spain. But he didn’t seem relieved about the good customer. More distracted.
Even the advertising boards are against Bayern
Diverted. That is a word that this week weighed down like a thick fog on Säbener Strasse. Above all, the debate about Kimmich, who was still skeptical of vaccinations, escalated into the federal government. The topic flew by the ears of FC Bayern from all sides. The club, which is so fond of the sovereignty of opinion, swam helplessly with this flood. But at least he tried to stabilize the situation again. Means: Oliver Kahn has a clear edge in the vaccination debate. Before the game, he confessed that there was an absolute belief in the club that all players should be vaccinated. The DFB also sent greetings. A vaccination call ran through the virtual gangs. That he was featured prominently on television when Kimmich lost the ball? Surely an accident.
Well, don’t get distracted. Spades yes or spades no, that wasn’t the reason for the bizarre downfall. At least that was assured by the stunned sports director Hasan Salihamidžić. In the ARD, after the triple dream that broke early, he said: “I can’t associate the vaccination with the fact that we don’t go into the duels and don’t switch. That has nothing to do with it.” But with what then? Well, good question. No Answer. Again Salihamidžić: “That is shocking. It was a collective blackout. For me it is inexplicable!” There you are. A country puzzles.
The always enlightening Gaudibursch Thomas Müller was no further help in the search for reasons. Well, as a shocked protagonist, he can’t be blamed: “We were torn apart from A to Z in the first half. I don’t know whether I’ve seen that before in the Bayern shirt.” Well, if he doesn’t remember, it will probably never have been this bad. “We have to apologize to the fans. It’s a shame for us. We’re also sitting in the dressing room and looking at each other. We had big plans. We tried to get up somehow, but I don’t think we can do that on TV screen. ” It’s correct.
The space interpreter, the Space Invader, didn’t even want to look into the future. Because what he saw there might also scare him a little. Union Berlin. The old forester’s house. Always unbeaten. Last home defeat sometime in 2020. “We’ll see how we react after a game like this in the next few weeks. We’re used to reacting to negative experiences. But that’s easy to say. You’re normal We are also used to reacting differently to backlogs, “he said. It wasn’t a normal defeat. It was one that can shred an entire season. Now it is like this: Bayern Munich are out of the cup, in the league not yet rushed after nine games. You are no longer used to that.
Even Hütter without memory
If you want to squeeze the Munich game into a scene, then it is best in that moment in the 70th minute when Kimmich started a moderately dangerous shot, but hit the stumbling Müller, who was also offside. Or as Salihamidžić would say: “Everything went wrong that could go wrong.” That is a one-sided view. The other way round looks like this: At Borussia, things ran so smoothly on this Wednesday evening that the string was a magnificent rope in the end. Coach Adi Hütter couldn’t remember either. Like Thomas Müller. But different.
“I can’t remember having seen something so good from my own team,” said the Austrian after the game. The last few weeks, it has to be said, have been rather mediocre. Last weekend they lost 0-1. Away. At Hertha BSC! Who are not Bavarians. They went down against Bayern, like Bayern against Gladbach.
Especially Breel Embolo can be celebrated. Maybe he made his best game for the Gladbach team. He should actually have been shaved by Hütter. That was what the boulevard had written. And only caught a tab from the Austrian coach. And then there was also the scoring receipt from the Swiss. He prepared the 1-0 strongly, the 4-0 and 5-0 he scored himself. If something was shaved: Then Manuel Neuer’s complaint arm, which was not visible, and the myth of FC Bayern.
How does Elton John react?
Without a coach, without defense, without trust against the wildly pressing Gladbachers. To feel the uncertainty in every moment. A defeat for the ages. The ultimate shame. And above all: a victory of hope. Almost 50,000 spectators in Borussia-Park. A result that has fallen out of time. Because the last time Bayern went under in the late 1970s. When the big team of the generation around Gerd Müller, Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Co slowly disintegrated. It was a reminder of football as it can be. Without VAR. A game in which goals are scored and penalties are awarded. And then it just goes on. Because nobody checks anything.
Gladbach’s 5-0 win robbed them of the certainty that Bayern would always win in the end. And if not, that it will at least be close. It was an echo from days long past that resounded from the glorious Bökelberg to the industrial park in front of the gates of the Lower Rhine city and intensified there infinitely. And hopefully it was a preview of what was to come. A football that is no longer explained by Bayern victories, but by a more equal competition. A game that Bayern leaves with no explanation.
“Throughout the game we haven’t found the point where Bayern’s anger motor goes on,” said Thomas Müller and substitute coach Toppmöller, who could also sit on the bench against Union, released his team to be shot. For a few days. “We have to endure the next day or two of malice and ridicule,” he said. Because he too knew what this infernal failure of his team would trigger in the rest of the country and beyond. Maybe even Elton John will write a song.