The carrot of genuine competition will continue to be dangled, even if the latest edition of Der Klassiker was less one-sided“It is as unexpected as Christmas,” wrote 11 Freunde’s Tobias Ahrens, “but still leaves bitterness.” There are Bayern Munich victories over Borussia Dortmund and there are instances of Bayern Munich winning Der Klassiker, as it is now internationally branded, and there are many different shades of the story to point to with Dortmund having won three and drawn three of the pair’s last 17 Bundesliga meetings.Yet Saturday night’s latest edition of the fixture, however you want to describe it, requires further nuance in the description, from both sides. After five goals and a see-saw contest in which BVB scored first...
The treble winners have withdrawn their contract offer and the only questions now are when and where the Austrian will goThe gulf between the two parties has been clear for a while but when the news dropped on Sunday, it still felt jarring. Bayern Munich’s president, Herbert Hainer, has steered the ship through largely tranquil times since taking the helm just under a year ago, with a second treble in seven years to crown it all at the end of the season under the guidance of Hansi Flick.Now, one could say that Hainer has genuinely started the job as Bayern president, having had to make a tough public stance. Speaking to Bayerischer Rundfunk, he confirmed suspicions that negotiations to extend...
The few fans who saw the draw with Union Berlin were keen to remind the players of the upcoming Revierderby’s importanceIt briefly felt like a potential turning point, if not quite a vindication. When Gonçalo Paciência’s header, applied to Omar Mascarell’s corner, crept inside Andreas Luthe’s near post, the roar was hearty even from a meagre crowd. At the end of a week in which the 300 available tickets for Sunday’s home game with Union Berlin were distributed to key workers, a welcome splash of feelgood after weeks and months of bad news for Schalke and their fans, it felt good. It felt positive. A first point won this season was at least some relief, and out of step with...
Since 2016-17, Hoffenheim have taken more points from Bayern than any other team. On Sunday, Sebastian Hoeness did it againRarely a day goes by on which the name isn’t in the sports pages, or is writing itself large over news reaction and discussion shows on television. “I don’t believe at all that the name opens doors,” said Sebastian Hoeness, the new head coach of Hoffenheim, in an interview with Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung last week. “Decision makers at this level [just] evaluate your work and something like that doesn’t influence them in one way or another.”The nephew of Uli and Dieter’s son, the 38-year-old boss made his home debut in charge of the Sinsheim side on Sunday and couldn’t have wished for a...
Serge Gnabry scored a hat-trick and Leroy Sané dazzled on debut in an 8-0 win for the champions on gala nightFriday night. Opening night. Gala night for the champions. Yet if it was so familiar for Bayern Munich, it was alien too. The Rekordmeister has been here so many times that you could forgive it being cruised through on autopilot, as the board did when they and their guests from Gelsenkirchen sat in the directors box without social distancing or masks, earning the club a ticking off from Bavaria’s minister of health, Melanie Huml.Despite all the regular tells – not least a pair of effervescent wingers wearing the numbers 7 and 10 who tore poor Schalke to bits, more of...