“Won’t freak out here”
Kimmich is struggling to regain composure after the Leipzig defeat
5/21/2023 1:04 p.m
FC Bayern collapses again, Joshua Kimmich then tries to explain the defeat to RB Leipzig. In the 1:3 he recognizes a “reflection of the season” and sees “too many mistakes” in his team.
After the final whistle, Joshua Kimmich paused briefly on the grass of the Allianz Arena. He stared blankly in the direction of the south stand while the rest of the stadium quickly emptied after FC Bayern’s 3-1 home defeat by RB Leipzig. His colleagues João Cancelo and Benjamin Pavard stayed longer, while Kimmich looked for the way into the catacombs.
Bayern had collapsed again in the Bundesliga. The Munich team actually had the home game against RB under control on Saturday evening. They took the lead in the 25th minute through international Serge Gnabry. But then they just stopped playing football. Leipzig got stronger and struck after the half-time break. Only the presumed Bald-Munich Konrad Laimer completed a counterattack to 1:1. Then Leipzig followed up after two penalties, first because of a foul (76′), then because of a handball (86′).
“Make way too many mistakes”
And so Kimmich then tried to control his emotions as well as possible in the interview. The 28-year-old analyzed the defeat calmly and objectively. “Should I freak out here in front of the camera? You won’t experience that,” he said after the game, before adding, “in the dressing room and then maybe at home.”
The pattern repeated itself several times this season. Bayern lost a lead eight times in the league, scoring just five out of a possible 24 points. The defeat against Leipzig was a “reflection of our season”, said Kimmich. “It happens to us far too often this season. We have everything under control and we break away again. Sometimes we get in our own way. We make far too many mistakes. We get the goals from our own corner and from two penalties, which are more than unnecessary,” lamented the midfielder.
With the defeat for BVB, the Munich team opened the door to their first Bundesliga title since 2012. If Borussia win their last two games, first in Augsburg and then against Mainz, FC Bayern can do whatever they want against 1. FC Köln. It would be the first season without a title since 2012. “We’ll look at it and we’ll win the last game regardless,” announced Kimmich, looking at BVB and his own end of the season in Cologne.