Zapping Our Mondial CAN: Algeria’s calendar
Three months after leaving his post as CEO of Bayern Munich in favor of Olivier Kahn, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge gave a long interview to AS and was able to review his managerial career as well as current events in European football. After recalling Bayern’s brilliant victory against Barça (8-2) in the semi-finals of the 2020 Champions League, Rummenigge spoke of Lionel Messi and the general level of La Liga:
“In the space of three years, La Liga has lost its two flagship players. Cristiano has gone to Juventus and now Messi to PSG. Both leave a marketing void that cannot be filled. Everyone is free to say what he wants, but I consider it an own goal to have been forced to send Messi away because of the consequences of financial fair play “.
Barça and Laporta
Then the former German international (95 caps, 45 goals) returned to the finances of Barça and the presidency of Joan Laporta: “We saw it coming. When you accumulate so much expenses, it is normal that the accounts do not are not looking good, especially after what the coronavirus has meant for everyone. The road ahead is difficult, but also correct and necessary. Reducing costs is essential with more than 1.3 billion euros in debt . There is no alternative. And my good friend Joan Laporta knows it too. (…)
He’s a great guy. And a better manager. He has already managed the club during his most glorious time with Pep as a coach and I could not be more convinced that he will also be able to pull Barca out of this crisis. His candidacy, given the moment that the club is going through, seemed to me even courageous and noble. We see that he feels responsible for his club and that he wanted to promote it in these difficult times “.
PSG
Now a member of the UEFA executive committee, Rummenigge then explained the “legitimacy” of the sports policy of Paris-Saint-Germain: “I do not know the exact figures concerning the budget and the wage bill of the PSG, but I think they have increased. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, for his part, has made it known that at the same time they have more income. It is clear that UEFA will follow the matter very closely , but it is worth remembering the following: the balance sheet that matters in terms of financial fair play is that of June 2022, not that of today. This is what the regulations impose. then the expenditure and income will be compared accurately, because at this point in the season we only know the expenditure. When the time comes, UEFA will look at the numbers and we will know more? ”
La Super League
Finally, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge concluded on the aborted Super League project: “I don’t know why the three are still clinging to it (Barça, Real Madrid and Juventus Turin editor’s note), but what I know, It’s because the Super League, as it was originally organized, is dead. It’s not me saying it, it’s football fans all over Europe. Their reaction was clear: no club in England, France or Germany will ever be tempted to play with fire again – no matter how reckless it is on the part of the so-called founders.
(…) I am convinced that the foundation was hastily created to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in the short term. (…) Let’s say that I was not caught off guard. Florentino has always been in favor of the Super League. We are talking about a great businessman who disagreed with FIFA and UEFA decisions for a long time and acted accordingly. The idea of the Super League was not born in April, but well before “.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s truths
In a long interview with the Spanish daily AS, the former general manager of Bayern Munich, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, scathingly evoked the news of football with FC Barcelona or Paris-Saint-Germain.
