FC Bayern: Matthäus on Tuchel’s exit – “Premature separation is not ruled out”

FC Bayern Munich Matthäus about Tuchel

“An early separation cannot be ruled out”

As of: 2:39 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes

“It’s a very, very hard job for Tuchel now”

FC Bayern and coach Thomas Tuchel will go their separate ways at the end of the season. WELT TV football reporter Paul Klinzing is surprised by the timing of the announcement: “This is a very difficult situation for both sides.”

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After a “good conversation” with the CEO, it is clear: coach Thomas Tuchel is leaving FC Bayern in the summer. This impulse should save the Munich season. But does the peace hold? Former Bayern captain Lothar Matthäus has his doubts.

At 10:43 a.m. on Wednesday, what was supposed to be an era officially ended, but will now go down in FC Bayern’s history as a big misunderstanding. The Munich club management announced that coach Thomas Tuchel would be over in the summer. This was the result of an amicable conversation between CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and Thomas Tuchel.

The club’s goal is “to carry out a sporting realignment with a new coach for the 2024/25 season. Until then, every individual in the club is expressly challenged to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and the Bundesliga,” explained Dreesen. He “also explicitly held the team accountable. “In the Champions League in particular, we are convinced that after the 0-1 defeat in the first leg at Lazio Rome, we will reach the quarter-finals in the second leg,” the CEO continued.

Tuchel himself said: “I will of course continue to give everything for maximum success.” His contract actually runs until June 30, 2025. After many problems – on the pitch and between people – and the third defeat in a row, the Bayern bosses It is clear that things cannot continue like this.

Responsibility now lies with the FC Bayern team

At least not beyond the summer – but maybe even earlier. At least that’s what TV expert and Bavarian intimate expert Lothar Matthäus says. The record national player told BILD: “It’s a sensible decision for both of them. This was probably the most sensible conversation that has ever taken place between the two sides. There are no more excuses. Both sides can live with the decision and no one loses face. An earlier or premature separation is not ruled out by the current decision. One hopes for a positive effect. If that doesn’t happen, you can always separate immediately. The team is now responsible.”

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Tuchel’s departure was decided by Bayern after intensive discussions over the past few days. The grace period until the end of the season is well calculated on Bayern’s part. Background: The players should be held responsible, they should not be given an alibi again with a change of coach.

The German record champions are currently in crisis, losing the last three games in Leverkusen (0:3), in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League at Lazio Rome (0:1) and in Bochum (2:3). The last time this happened was in May 2015 under Pep Guardiola, but at that time Bayern were already champions, including two meaningless league games.

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In the Bundesliga, Bayern are already eight points behind Leverkusen; no team has ever made up such a big gap at such a late point in the season. The club was embarrassingly eliminated from the cup in Saarbrücken (1:2) in the second round. Bayern have lost more times in 44 competitive games under Tuchel (eleven times) than in 84 competitive games under Julian Nagelsmann (ten times). The Munich team is threatened with their first titleless season since 2012.

Klopp is sticking to his sabbatical plans

What happens next, at the latest in summer? Matthäus said in an interview with BILD that Leverkusen’s successful coach and Bayern’s former player Xabi Alonso should be a topic for Tuchel’s successor. Leverkusen has not lost any of its 32 competitive games this season (28 wins, 4 draws); FC Bayern is the only Bundesliga team to have achieved such a series (2019 to 2020). “It’s normal that you have to be interested in Xabi Alonso now. If they didn’t take care of him, they would make the next mistake. The task in Munich would be more rewarding than that in Liverpool to become the successor to the revered Jürgen Klopp,” said Matthäus.

“Maybe that should also bring a bit of unrest to Leverkusen.”

FC Bayern will part ways with Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season. “An immediate expulsion would bring even more unrest into the team,” says WELT TV football reporter Philip Röttger. When there is speculation about a successor, one thinks “of course of Xabi Alonso”.

Klopp, almost certainly Bayern’s preferred candidate, is eliminated as Tuchel’s potential successor. After almost nine years at league leaders Liverpool, the successful coach wanted to take a break, as he had announced. And that probably can’t be shaken. “Jürgen Klopp will not coach a club or a national team for a year after the current season. It stays that way,” said his advisor Marc Kosicke on the TV channel Sky on Wednesday afternoon.