Julian Nagelsmann is history at Bayern Munich, even if official confirmation is still pending. How could it come to this? A chronology.
FC Bayern – Season 2021/2022: Sudden home bankruptcy after a winning streak
FC Bayern under Nagelsmann only started the 2021/22 season with a 1-1 draw in Gladbach, but immediately followed that with the Supercup victory at BVB and won the next eight competitive games in a row – with an impressive goal difference of 42:4 .
The first bankruptcy under Nagelsmann came as a surprise and at home at that: After taking the lead, they lost to Frankfurt 1:2. “We are disappointed, angry and upset. This is a game that we must not lose under any circumstances. If we take chances, the game will end 3-1 or 4-1 and we sing Super Bayern again. Now there is not super Bayern and we have to deal with it. We’re served,” said Thomas Müller.
FC Bayern – Season 2021/2022: The heaviest cup defeat in FCB history
Three wins with 13-1 goals was Bayern’s answer to the bankruptcy against SGE, but then came the disaster from Gladbach. FCB lost 5-0 to the Foals in the second round of the DFB Cup. Bayern were 3-0 down after just 21 minutes and conceded their fifth goal in the 57th minute. Never before has a Bayern team lost so heavily in the cup. It was also the second second round in a row.
However, Nagelsmann was not present on this memorable evening because he was in quarantine with a corona infection. His assistant coach Dino Toppmöller took over.
“I’m absolutely shocked. It was a collective blackout. It’s inexplicable for me,” said sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. Müller was also taken aback: “We were torn apart from A to Z in the first half. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced that in a Bayern jersey.”
FC Bayern – 2021/2022 season: The weak start to 2022
FC Bayern experienced its first real crisis under Nagelsmann last winter. First, many Corona failures ensured that a home game against Gladbach was lost 1: 2, a little later the record champions lost 2: 4 in Bochum.
Joshua Kimmich then spoke of the “worst performance of the season” and criticized the mentality of the team: “We missed all the virtues you need to win a game. If something like that happens, okay. But it’s the same again “It happened to us in Gladbach too. We have to question whether that’s the mentality that FC Bayern embodies. That shouldn’t happen to a team like us. Every individual has to ask themselves whether they gave their all.”
Changeable appearances followed – including draws against Salzburg, Leverkusen and Hoffenheim (each 1-1).
FC Bayern – Season 2021/2022: The Champions League against Villarreal
The first leg in the quarterfinals against the Spaniards went haywire. Villarreal won 1-0 at home, were clearly the better team and had enough chances to get a bigger win.
“If things went badly, it could have been worse,” said Nagelsmann. “You have to show respect to your opponents. We have to gather ourselves for the second leg and fight back. We wanted to, but somehow we couldn’t.”
A few days later, CEO Oliver Kahn admitted: “We were surprised at the quality with which Villarreal played, how they played out at the back. We assumed that they would rather act with long balls. They then played out at the back, that was the best.”
FC Bayern – Season 2021/2022: Championship title and inglorious end of the season
Out of the cup, out of the premier class – after all, Bayern won the championship in Nagelsmann’s first season. With a 3-1 home win against BVB on matchday 31, the tenth title in a row was a done deal.
In the three remaining games, however, the air was noticeably out. In Mainz, the Bavarians made an embarrassing performance and lost 3-1, but the team then went on a short trip to Ibiza. Two 2-2 draws against Stuttgart and Wolfsburg followed.
FC Bayern – Season 2021/2022: The unrest surrounding Robert Lewandowski
“I can confirm that I discussed with Hasan and made a decision that I will not renew my contract with Bayern Munich,” said Robert Lewandowski after the final game in Wolfsburg. Before the game, Salihamidzic himself had already confirmed that the striker did not want to accept Bayern’s offer.
Nevertheless, Salihamidzic referred to Lewandowski’s contract, which runs until 2023, and made it clear: “Our position is clear.” One of the reasons for the goalscorer’s change thoughts: Nagelsmann.
Lewandowski is said to have often complained to the coaching team because he didn’t like exercises in training and Nagelsmann increasingly turned away from Hansi Flick’s original game idea in the second half of the season in order to implement tactical innovations. It was also a thorn in the side of the Pole that he was only offered a one-year contract and was also dealing with Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.
Lewandowski increasingly let his frustration run free, in training he seemed more and more frustrated and forced his exit. On July 16, after weeks of public debate, this was fixed – Lewy went to FC Barcelona.
FC Bayern – season 2022/2023: series of draws and Oktoberfest blues
FC Bayern started the new season with three impressive victories and seemed to bury the hopes of many football fans for an exciting season early on. But then there were three draws in a row against Gladbach, Union and Stuttgart – as well as a 0-1 defeat at FC Augsburg.
Nagelsmann explained shortly afterwards that he “didn’t want to” visit the traditional Oktoberfest. Kahn became clearer: “Of course we are all dissatisfied, in a bad mood.” But the ex-goalkeeper also had Nagelsmann’s back: “We are totally convinced of Julian.”
The coach announced for the upcoming international break that he wanted to think a lot: “I think about everything. About me. About the situation. About everything.”
FC Bayern – Season 2022/2023: Neuer injured and Tapalovic out
The thinking was successful. After the break, Bayern won twelve of their 13 competitive games before the World Cup was interrupted and became autumn champions. In the CL they qualified for the round of 16 with six wins in six games.
However, the calm was quickly over. At the beginning of December, Manuel Neuer broke his lower leg on a ski tour and forced his club to become active on the transfer market. Just over a month later, Bayern Munich’s goalkeeping coach fired Toni Tapalovic, who had worked in Munich for more than a decade.
“Differences about the way of working together” were decisive for this. Tapalovic is a friend and close confidant of Neuer – a fact that has been a thorn in Nagelsmann’s side for a long time. The coach is said to have been bothered by the fact that internal information from the coaching cabin was brought to Neuer and thus to the entire team via Tapalovic. In addition, the Croatian is said to have found it difficult to follow Nagelsmann’s instructions.
Current and former players reacted surprised – and probably upset. As his successor, Nagelsmann hired a confidant in Michaelrechner, whom he knew from his time at Hoffenheim.
The injured Neuer left in an interview not agreed with Bayern with the Süddeutsche Zeitung give free rein to his frustration about the decision: “I felt like my heart was being ripped out, that was the craziest thing I’ve experienced in my career.” A discussion with Nagelsmann followed.
FC Bayern – Season 2022/2023: Nagelsmann freaks out after Gladbach’s bankruptcy
The discussions about Nagelsmann did not break off due to the side war zones and three more draws at the beginning of the year. “We didn’t start well in the second half of the season. Objectively, it’s obvious that there are two teams,” explained Kahn: “The team before the World Cup – and there’s a team after the World Cup.”
After a 2-3 defeat in Gladbach on matchday 21, BVB and Union Berlin caught up with leaders Bayern on points – and Nagelsmann freaked out. “That’s a joke, is he kidding me, or what?” the coach yelled after the game on the way to the referee’s cabin – and then: “My God, my God. A washed-up pack!”
Referee Tobias Welz sent FCB defender Dayot Upamecano off after just eight minutes after a questionable emergency brake. Nagelsmann was sentenced to a fine of 50,000 euros for his violent words.
Salihamidzic also responded emotionally to the debate about Nagelsmann’s freak out and the playful lead in the Bundesliga: “It annoys me! It annoys me! All discussions are unnecessary. I wish that our coach would be allowed to work in peace!”
FC Bayern – Season 2022/2023: Discussions about Nagelsmann before the PSG game
The pressure on Nagelsmann before the round of 16 second leg in the CL against PSG, they had won the first leg 1-0, was huge. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß jumped to the side of the coach and strengthened his back.
“I think it’s totally overplayed. In my opinion, the outcome of the game has nothing to do with Julian Nagelsmann’s involvement,” said Hoeneß Evening News. “If everything turns out the way I think it will, we will no longer be discussing the Nagelsmann issue in six to eight weeks.”
As we know today, Hoeneß was right – but he probably meant it differently at the time…
FC Bayern – Season 2022/2023: Weak second half and mole affair
Although Bayern won their eighth CL game this season with Nagelsmann against Paris – and only conceded two goals in the premier class – the qualification for the quarter-finals was overshadowed by the weak performances in the league.
To top it all off came the sports picture also to the match plans made by Nagelsmann and printed on paper for the game against Bochum in early February (3:0). Nagelsmann did not suspect any of his players as a mole. “It has to be someone who is relatively early and alone in the room where things are hanging on game day,” he said.
The mole has not yet been found. Two days after Nagelsmann spoke about it in a press conference, his team in Leverkusen conceded their second bankruptcy in the new year – and lost the table lead to Dortmund just before the direct meeting. “I’ve rarely experienced so little drive, so little mentality, so little duel, so little assertiveness,” criticized Salihamidzic.
Bayern only picked up 16 points from eight Bundesliga games in the second half of the season. “The coaching discussion in between came from outside, we didn’t start it off the fence,” said President Herbert Hainer table football in an interview conducted before the Leverkusen game. One plans “long-term” with Nagelsmann.
FC Bayern – season 2022/2023: Nagelsmann before dismissal, Tuchel takes over
On the evening of March 23, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano was the first to report Nagelsmann’s impending separation. Other media followed.
Thomas Tuchel should take over in order to achieve the goals for the season that are probably in danger for those responsible for Bayern – and probably also in order not to lose the preferred candidate Tuchel to the competition again.
