The fate of coach Torsten Lieberknecht began in the hometown of Duisburg soccer manager Ivica Grlic: in Munich, in the stadium on Grünwalder Strasse. This story was four months ago and at first glance has nothing to do with the fact that Lieberknecht was sacked on Tuesday from third division MSV Duisburg. And yet the club on the western edge of the Ruhr area has not recovered from the fateful hit at the time.
After the 1: 3 home defeat against Viktoria Köln on Monday evening, MSV is currently on a relegation zone, and Grlic justified the dismissal of the coach with the words: “Even after eight games, we haven’t found stability. The results are wrong and a positive development Unfortunately, we couldn’t see it either. That makes this step necessary now. “
On 20 of 38 match days in the previous season, Duisburg was the table leader in the third division. Six game days before the end of the season, the MSV had four points ahead of the first non-promotion place. Then the cushion melted away. But even on the penultimate matchday, when they had already tumbled out of the promotional ranks, the jump to the second division in the guest appearance at Bayern Munich II still seemed within reach – until the second minute of stoppage time. Duisburg led 2-1, then Munich’s Leon Dajaku scored the late equalizer to make it 2-2.
A week later, when Duisburg won 4-0 against Unterhaching on the last match day, it turned out that without Dajaku’s goal they would have been promoted directly to the second division. But they stayed in the third division, and now, four months later, they are fourth from bottom even on the threshold of the regional league. That’s why Lieberknecht has lost his job.
The next game will take the Duisburg team back to Munich, this time to the Olympic Stadium. When they appear there next Saturday at the newly promoted SV Türkgücü, the assistant coaches Marvin Compper, Branimir Bajic and Sven Beuckert will coordinate the performance. The new head coach should not be presented until the next day. Michael Schiele, 42, who was dismissed after two match days at the Würzburger Kickers, was on Tuesday evening before an engagement at MSV.
Lieberknecht, who led Eintracht Braunschweig to the Bundesliga in 2013, was relegated a year later and was dismissed there in 2018 after a total of ten years, joined the then second division MSV Duisburg in October 2018. He could not prevent relegation that season, just missed promotion one season later – also because of the goal against Bayern. And now he and his team were suddenly on the brink.
But the club can’t afford a relegation to the regional league, actually staying in the third division isn’t a serious option. In the summer, MSV President Ingo Wald said: “We want to avoid bankruptcy as long as possible.” Only an ascent would probably help. Wald had explained it like this before the start of the season: “In the long run, staying in the third division would trigger a downward spiral that we cannot get out of. Every year in this class means a minus.” After all, the assignment to the coach who is still to be found is clearly outlined.
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