Questions about Gladbach undesirable
ZDF invites Max Eberl from “Sportstudio”.
03/16/2023 11:39 am
ZDF actually wanted to talk to Leipzig sports director Max Eberl about his past in Gladbach. But the ex-manager does not want that. The editors then pull the ripcord, now a Schalke player will appear on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Eberl explains himself.
RB Leipzig’s sports director Max Eberl will not be a guest in ZDF’s “Sportstudio” on Saturday evening as planned. The broadcaster refrained from an appearance by the 49-year-old because, at Eberl’s request, “certain topics (“Causa Gladbach”) should be largely excluded”. This was announced by ZDF. The “Sportstudio” editors did not want to comply with this request. Instead, Marius Bülter from FC Schalke 04 will be a guest on Saturday.
Eberl expressed himself in a statement. In the past few weeks – especially around the Bundesliga game against Borussia Mönchengladbach – some emotional topics off the pitch have taken up a lot of space in public discussion. “I faced these issues even though I wanted to end them a long time ago. Rather, it was sometimes interpreted as if I wanted to actively heat up the discussions. That was not my intention, despite all the emotion,” said Eberl.
He “fully understands if I put myself in their perspective” for the renewed reporting on the subject of Gladbach intended by the “Sportstudio” team,” said Eberl. From his point of view, however, everything has been said several times: “I would like to leave it at that, put a check on the topic and look ahead.”
Eberl: “That affects me as a person”
Eberl left Gladbach in January 2022 after 23 years as a player and sports director due to health problems and was hired by Bundesliga rivals Leipzig last December. At the first reunion with Borussia in his new role, the 49-year-old was sharply attacked and badly insulted by individual Gladbach fans on Saturday. Leipzig won the game 3-0.
In the run-up to the meeting, Eberl had refrained from appearing in the media. However, the day after the match, the manager talked extensively about his ex-club and the lack of understanding of some fans about his new job in Leipzig in the “double pass” of the TV station Sport1. There he had, among other things, defended himself against acting allegations from the Gladbach fan scene. “I didn’t want to stop, I had to stop. That’s a huge difference – it’s completely negated,” he said, adding: “That’s a lie, I was sick.”
“There was no choice for me as a person. I had no choice,” Eberl said about his departure from Gladbach about a year ago. He had announced this in tears at a press conference. The allegations and insults that are now in the room bother him a lot: “It affects me as a person. Yes, it hurts.” Of course he knew “what to expect,” he added. Eberl rejected the accusation that he had lost his credibility. “I can’t live with the assumption that’s being made.
“Credibility is a great asset for me as a person,” said the former defender. “It bothers everyone when their basic virtues are tackled and the values they stand for are not taken seriously.” When asked about his earlier criticism of Leipzig’s transfer policy, especially with regard to the player changes from sister club RB Salzburg to Sachsen, Eberl argued that football had developed further in the meantime. “I never said I was the keeper of the holy grail. I never said I was a traditionalist,” he added.