Bundesliga

Kroos criticism from Uli Hoeneß – Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart: “Had nothing to do with criticism”

Published

3 years ago

August 4, 2021

Kroos criticism from Uli Hoeneß - Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart: "Had nothing to do with criticism"

Steffen Baumgart criticized Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß for his omissions about ex-national player Toni Kroos a month ago and relativized his criticism of Marco Reus for his EM cancellation.

“Uli Hoeneß is one of the greatest personalities in German football. I have great respect for him. But in the case of Toni Kroos, I don’t have to find his statements good,” said Baumgart in an interview with the Sports picture.

Hoeneß had Kroos in a one-two in mid-July Sport1 attacked sharply and said that Kroos’ way of playing was “totally over”: “Other teams move forward with a pull, and we played across, played across, played across.”

Baumgart countered that the statistics showed “that of all German players, Kroos made the most vertical passes”. The new coach of 1. FC Köln therefore suspected that the Hoeneß attack on Kroos, who has since resigned from the national team, might have had a different background.

“From my point of view that had nothing to do with criticism, maybe it was about a different level,” said Baumgart, referring indirectly to the departure of Kroos in 2014 to Real Madrid, in which the midfielder did not deal with the Bayern bosses at the time had been able to agree on a contract extension.

Reus criticism? Baumgart: “I’ll be happy to explain that”

In addition to the Hoeneß scolding, Baumgart also took up his own critical words in the direction of Marco Reus regarding his EM waiver and put them into perspective.

“If I had been him I would have done it differently. I didn’t want to say more. And I like to explain that: If I missed three tournaments due to injury and am now in the prime of my time, then I would have taken the chance. However, I respect his decision “said Baumgart.

In mid-June, the 49-year-old called Reus’ decision not to go to the European Championships as “very special”: “This European Championship is very likely the last chance for him to win a big title – and he prefers to do it Vacation.”