Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann violently attacked the referee after Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 3-2 defeat by Borussia Mönchengladbach.
“That’s a joke, is he kidding me, or what?” shouted the Bayern coach as he walked through the catacombs after the game. He then went into the referee’s cabin and came out again shortly afterwards. His reaction: “This softened pack!”
Referee Tobias Welz dismissed Upamecano in the eighth minute after a slight contact in a running duel with Alassane Pléa. Despite a three-minute VAR review, the decision remained the same.
At sky Nagelsmann explained afterwards that Welz didn’t want to admit any mistakes to him during the conversation and that the red card was justified afterwards. That got the coach so enraged that he almost lost his composure again at the microphone. “Nobody can tell me that it was a red card. If he had realized that it wasn’t the right decision, no problem. Everyone makes mistakes. But like that …” Nagelsmannn raged.
His analysis of the scene: “In my eyes, he has a minimal touch on his shoulder, but he doesn’t pull. You can also see in the replay that Pléa’s shoulder doesn’t move a millimeter.”
PORN AND SIMPSONS IN THE KÖLNER KELLER? NETWORK REACTIONS TO UPAMECANO’S RED CARD
By the press conference that followed, the 35-year-old had calmed down a bit: “Of course I was upset in the mixed zone. But please don’t put every word on the gold scales. There are emotions in this sport, and that’s what it lives on. There Isn’t everything right now that I say or say.”
Nagelsmann later apologized via Twitter: “Emotions are part of sport. And given the red card, I had to vent after the game. However, I have to apologize for the choice of words to Tobias Welz’s team. Unfortunately, I clearly went too far there,” he wrote .
FC Bayern: Salihamidzic shows understanding for Nagelsmann
Bayern’s sports director Hasan Salihamidzic jumped to his coach’s side in terms of content. “I think everyone saw that it wasn’t a red card. It annoys me a bit too – what do you mean a bit – it annoys me beyond measure that the referee doesn’t go out and look at the scene because it was simply crucial to the game. That’s a shame for us,” said Salihamidzic in the mixed zone in a calm voice.
Like Nagelsmann, he also sought a conversation with the referee. “I asked him why he didn’t go out and ask. That’s why we have the video evidence. It’s annoying for us that it didn’t happen. I’m sure he would have changed his mind if he saw it again And even if he hadn’t taken the card back, at least he could have confirmed his opinion.”
Salihamidzic showed understanding for Nagelsmann’s outburst of anger: “The coach is of course emotional. We have three hundred percent chances in the first six minutes. The game would have been completely different without the red card. The team was in top form, we started great.”
In the end, the sports director became fundamental again: “In the last few weeks it was the case that you were disadvantaged. Today was the crowning glory”. Midfielder Joshua Kimmich also said: “At the moment you have the feeling that one or the other 50-50 decision will be made against us.”
FC Bayern: Nagelsmann also made a “fucking decision”
Thomas Müller, who also had to leave the field early after Upamecano’s red card, had expressed himself in the mixed zone in a similarly concise manner as his coach: “The way the game went was shit,” said the Bayern veteran before leaving the interview zone again.
Nagelsmann described the decision to “sacrifice” Müller as “a shitty decision. I’m also sorry for Thomas. We then thought about what makes sense, what can we do, how can we change it. It can then affect anyone. I have also told him we need maximum speed, we need Choupo for the standards. There are a lot of factors that have nothing to do with Thomas. That sucks, I don’t like doing it either.”
He himself has not yet spoken to Müller about his replacement, “but he also knows that you have to make such a decision.”
