At Bayern there is helplessness. How could you go under with Gladbachers who were actually in crisis? The answer probably lies next to the place. The 0: 5 against the foals was the low point of a used week.
The day after, there was still astonishment and perplexity. 0: 5! FC Bayern never lost more in a DFB Cup match than on Wednesday evening in Mönchengladbach Borussia Park. And that despite the fact that the record champions and cup winners had recently “played” well-known opponents at will – for example, recently in the Bundesliga, when Bayern didn’t even need a half-time to score five goals in a 5-1 win in Leverkusen. So how did the “collective blackout” in Gladbach come about a little later?
The Bavarians did not find an explanation at first either. “Just shocked,” said FCB sports director Hasan Salihamidzic after the game. Thomas Müller spoke of a “collective failure”, who, unlike well-known team-mates, commented on the record failure. All of this is “a bit difficult to grasp at first.” Or maybe it was just human. The club officials did not want to accept this, but in the past few days there had been comparatively little about football around Säbener Straße. And the desperate appearance against Gladbacher, who was playing unleashed, revealed that none of this had apparently left the million-dollar troop without a trace.
The Joshua Kimmich case
There was especially Joshua Kimmich, whose admission that he had not (yet) been vaccinated against Corona due to personal concerns caused an enormous wave. The entire debate about a too low vaccination quota in Germany, vaccination refusers, corona deniers and the effects of keeping unvaccinated people on everyday life suddenly flared up again in the person of the national player. Even the federal government publicly appealed to Kimmich to find out more and then maybe get vaccinated.
Other parties and interest groups also co-opted the “case” for their own purposes, and still others condemned the entire Kimmich debate. The 26-year-old didn’t really let it be seen in Gladbach. But his facial expressions and his reactions to what was happening on the pitch betrayed that someone was electrified. And when his team increasingly lost the order of the game, the midfield strategist was unlike usual unable to stop this.
The trainer in quarantine
Maybe Julian Nagelsmann could have helped, but the coach couldn’t stand on the sidelines in Gladbach. Instead, the coach was stuck in quarantine because of a corona infection – even though he is vaccinated. During the week he reported from the kitchen at home that he was happy to have been vaccinated because he knew how the disease could progress if one was not protected. Since “the boys” marched and the technology made it possible to hold discussions over a distance, he had endured it to some extent in the isolation. That should have changed completely during the Gladbach game. It is uncertain whether the 34-year-old could really have stopped the demise of his team in Mönchengladbach, but it was fitting that Nagelsmann didn’t even have the chance to do so.
Die Causa Lucas Hernández
For defender Lucas Hernández, the redeeming news came at the right time. A few hours before the cup game, the message went on the ticker that the Frenchman in the service of FC Bayern does not have to go to jail. A court in Madrid converted the original prison sentence of six months in connection with a violent argument with his current wife on the street into a fine: 240 daily rates of 400 euros – a total of 96,000 euros. The thing from 2019 suddenly caught up with Hernández last week. The 25-year-old would not be the first to not achieve his greatest efficiency thanks to a message of relief and thanks to the relief that comes with it. In Gladbach in any case, he caused the penalty to make it 3-0 for Borussia through a clumsy boarding and assessed the situation completely wrong before the 4-0. In any case, the sword of Damocles from a prison sentence had hovered over the world-class defender for days – even if, as the club said, he had long assumed that the matter would end lightly for him. In any case, Hernández was not in world-class form in Gladbach.
FC Bayern on the red carpet
On top of all that came the premiere of the documentary series “FC Bayern – Behind The Legend” in a Munich cinema on Monday evening. A lot of FC Bayern celebrities appeared on the red carpet and once again had to put up with questions, especially about Joshua Kimmich’s attitude towards vaccination. The reaction of Uli Hoeneß, who blamed the media in particular for the wave, revealed that the club had to deal with the issue. It remains to be seen whether an unprecedented open look behind the scenes of the legendary club was appropriate. The documentary shows, among other things, the moment when today’s national coach Hansi Flick announces his close departure to the team after winning the last championship title. That was just as much a topic as the statements of FCB board member Oliver Kahn about his depression.
Gladbach – the special opponent
Plenty of sideline, of all things, before an all-or-nothing game against the old rival from the 1970s. Bayern have repeatedly struggled against Borussia Mönchengladbach in recent years. In Borussia-Park in particular, things often didn’t end well for the permanent champions – and that was definitely an issue before the game on Wednesday evening. But after just over 20 minutes it was clear that the FC Bayern team was simply not up to scratch and also met highly motivated foals, who succeeded in almost everything that evening. So the 0: 5 became the highest ever cup failure of the record cup winners and the final low point of a used week.
The shock in Bayern ranks about the result and their own style of play was great. In the end, assistant coach Dino Toppmöller could only speak of a “slip”. It remains to be seen whether he is correct in his assessment. In any case, one should concentrate more on football again in the coming days around the Säbener Straße than before.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
