“Traditions should be cultivated”
A title and beer against Bavaria’s mood crisis
By Till Erdenberger
4/22/2022 3:54 p.m
Julian Nagelsmann is about to win his first major title. If not at the weekend, then the coach will become German soccer champion with FC Bayern a little later. It’s also the least he expects in his position. It’s all complicated.
No, there are no longer any legitimate doubts: FC Bayern Munich will win their tenth national championship title in a row. Nine points ahead of the distant pursuer Borussia Dortmund before the direct duel on Saturday (6.30 p.m./Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de). The German record champions will also make themselves the European record champions, at least in terms of the most consecutive championships in the five major leagues on the continent.
So far, the brand has been shared with Juventus Turin, but after their ninth title in 2020, the Italians sank into a sporting crisis. The absolute European record is held by Skonto Riga from Latvia and the Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar with 14 titles each. The tenth championship in a row by FC Bayern has only been a question of “when” for weeks. And then there is the big question of how the title will affect the mood at Bayern. Because it’s not very good.
“The mood has been cloudy over the last two weeks,” admitted Julian Nagelsmann, otherwise not exactly known for his excessive pessimism, before his possible crowning as champion coach. “The last two weeks” are the code for the completely unexpected Champions League defeat against Villarreal. After the draw for the quarter-finals, they were surprisingly openly happy about the supposedly easiest draw, so the hangover was correspondingly severe after the late knockout in the home game. In the DFB Cup, the club, which seemed almost unbeatable for a long time during Hansi Flick’s short era, didn’t even make it into the winter with a 0-5 disaster at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
“Mega wave of euphoria” isn’t there yet
So now you become a master. It’s the least a Bayern coach has to do to have a future on Säbener Straße. Nagelsmann knows that, of course: “If I didn’t win the championship, I wouldn’t be a coach here anymore. I’m ambitious and always try to do things better.” The anticipation is manageable: “The mega wave of euphoria will only arise when we have made it.”
A draw postpones the decision mathematically, with a win the championship is already decided four games before the end of the season. “I also hope that the players are looking forward to it and are motivated accordingly.” He himself “will do everything to succeed on Saturday. It’s difficult to say in advance how big the emotions will be.” After all: “If the time came, if we win, I’m open to everything, including a beer shower,” said Nagelsmann. “One should also cultivate traditions.” He smiled and added: “I once read that a beer cure is supposed to be good for your hair.” You just have to hide the beer smell.
“Lots of things around”
It will be Julian Nagelsmann’s first championship. After Matthias Sammer’s title win with Borussia Dortmund in 2002, the 34-year-old will be the second youngest champion coach in Bundesliga history. Yes, he is looking forward to it “nevertheless”. “Nevertheless” is “not just the results,” said Nagelsmann, but also “many things around it that bother me and push my euphoria down a bit”. The young coach had to moderate a lot this season that was not at all part of his job profile: There was weeks of anger about captain Joshua Kimmich, who had been unwilling to vaccinate for a long time, constant absences from top performers who tested positive, the immanent unrest surrounding sports director Hasan Salihamidžić. And then the embarrassing, in the end turbulent annual general meeting had a long-lasting effect, which even left the eternal club father Uli Hoeneß at a loss, speechless and stunned.
In Nagelsmann’s very own training, on the other hand, the situation mainly concerns Robert Lewandowski: It is still completely open whether the world’s top scorer will continue to work at FC Bayern after the end of the season or rather at FC Barcelona (or elsewhere on the European stage). And that’s annoying. “Basically, I have a wonderful job, I love the job of being a football coach,” said Nagelsmann. “But there are certainly more relaxed and beautiful moments than in the last three weeks.”
“It’s a coincidence”
Bayern attacker Thomas Müller, whose at least short-term future at the club, according to information from the “kicker”, is apparently clarified with a one-year extension of his contract, which expires in 2023, wants to become and was the sole player record champion with title number eleven (previously shared with David Alaba, who migrated to Madrid). “already hot” for the championship party with the fans. Borussia Dortmund shouldn’t postpone the Munich championship party: “It’s a special situation to be able to win the championship title against your direct competitor – and in your own stadium in front of a full house. It’s a coincidence that might make it a little bit special.” FC Bayern won nine of the last ten Bundesliga games between the two rivals, while BVB received some violent applause.
Former international Dietmar Hamann, who played for FC Bayern between 1993 and 1998, does not believe that there will be another one on Saturday. “I don’t know if Bayern are solid enough at the moment to do what they have done with Dortmund in recent years. There is also a lot of unrest in the club at the moment,” said the 48-year-old in an interview with the “image” fixed. “I do believe that there has been a break in the Munich dressing room at the moment. They are not a team for me at the moment,” said today’s Bundesliga expert.
In addition to the unresolved situation of superstar Lewandowski and the equally uncertain future of offensive colleague Serge Gnabry, according to Hamann, a completely different personality should cause trouble: the departure of central defender Niklas Süle to Borussia Dortmund after the season “caused extremely great unrest. That rankles Bayern still today. If someone left, then he went from BVB to Bayern and not the other way around. Now someone is leaving for free, in the prime of his career,” said Hamann, who went on to add: “It never happened at Bayern before and says a lot about what’s going on at Bayern.” But now the title should come quickly.