Last Week In Bayern News
June 8, 2020 Sunday
To start the week we got Kicker’s player ratings for the Dusseldorf match with no one receiving below a 2 and Lewandowski, Müller, Kimmich, Pavard and Flick all receiving 1’s.
According to BamS, the earliest possible start to the 2020/21 Bundesliga season would be September 11th, however it is very likely to be later than this.
As if we don’t have enough to worry about in life, now we need to be on the lookout for Thomas Müller taking up Paragliding keep-ups…thanks internet!
In case you some how missed the million reports circulating, Lewandowski had not scored against Dusseldorf prior to the May 29th match. Apparently he just needed someone, in this case Hansi Flick, to tell him he should go ahead and just do so. In the same press conference, Hansi also let on that he likes the idea of scoring 100 Bundesliga goals. Who would have guessed?
According to Sky, Borussia Dortmund’s director Michael Zork conceded the title to Bayern despite the Munich side having only a 7 point lead with 5 matches remaining. I expect this went over well with the players.
The big story of the week, as you will see throughout this article, however was the racial tensions going on in the US. The heinous killing of George Floyd sparked protests and worse from people who have seen far too many similar stories over recent years. Jadon Sancho, Marcus Thurman and Chris Richards all made some gesture or statement regarding the injustices perpetrated against black people.
In an interview with Sky, Oliver Khan doubled down on Nubel staying at Bayern next season by categorically ruling out a loan deal. Meanwhile Herber Hainer on BR24Sport seemed to think that Leroy Sane is a “good player” while also stanning Adidas. Old habits die hard I suppose.
Monday
The big news Monday morning was celebrating past achievements such as Bayern finishing off their 2013 Treble, Dante’s singing and Miroslav Klose starting off his World Cup career with a hat trick.
According Mundo Deportivo Barcelona had considered signing Alphonso Davies in 2017 but were unwilling to pay 8 million Euro’s for the player. Seems like a wise decision in retrospect.
Tuesday
According to Bild, Coutinho will not stay at Bayern beyond the end of the 2019/20 season however Hansi Flick would like to keep the player till after the Champions League is ended. Meanwhile Thiago and Lucas both returned to training ahead of the matchup with Leverkusen which was especially good news given how often Hernandez has been injured.
On to DFB news…or olds depending on how you look at it…Kicker reported that Oliver Bierhoff is completely ruling out a return to the national team for Thomas Müller. Why not limit yourself when given the opportunity. I suppose they’re at least sticking to their guns.
Bayern currently have two of the top three dribblers in the Bundesliga in Alphonso Davies and Thiago with them having completed 72 and 69 total at an impressive completion rate of 64.3% and 85.2%, respectively.
Apparently it was still news to Sky that Leroy Sane and Bayern Munich had agreed to terms and the hold up was/is an agreement with Manchester City. I guess they had been living under a rock for the previous week.
Joshua Kimmich was WhoScored’s Bundesliga player of the month. Alphonso Davies finished in third.
Finally, people around the world participated #BlackOutTuesday in a show of support for the black lives matter campaign and Bayern and its players were no exception.
Wednesday
Good news if you’re a Brazzo fan, according to FCB 51, he will continue in his role as sporting director for the foreseeable future despite his new board position.
Meanwhile Sven Ulriech does not view the prospect of being the third choice keeper next season positively. While he refused to rule out the possibility of staying, his desire is to find playing time somewhere, and coincidentally Schlke could be that landing spot according to Bild.
Kai Havertz’s movement this summer was once again big news this week. This time however, both Bild and Sky were reporting that a move in 2021 might be more likely and that Rudy Voller would like to see him stay one more season while saying he would not leave for less than 100 million euros.
Lucas Hernandez finally returned to team training while Herman Gerland decided that the youth players for Bayern needed some extra training.
According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, Bayern, Leipzig and Everton are all interested in Roma’s 22 year old winger Cengiz Under who Roma want 30 million for. According to Kicker however, Bayern are looking for a central defender who can also fill in as a defensive midfielder at times, presumably as a potential Javi Martinez replacement.
Thomas Müller invited all challengers in the Champions League while saying Bayern is back and have the confidence to win. Joshua Kimmich praised Sancho and called on all players to stand up against racism.
Kicker also gave us their daily update on David Alaba and Thiago’s contract situations saying that Bayern are set on David Alaba staying next season but not ruling out a departure for Thiago.
Thursday
Herman Gerland celebrated his birthday. As did Lukas Podolski. We love celebrating birthdays at Bayern! It’s like another trophy we get to collect on a yearly basis.
Meanwhile, Leon Goretzka discussed his beefing up during the Covid break.
Jerome Boateng and David Alaba both posted impassioned messages on social media sharing their experiences with racism and discrimination and calling for change.
According Bild, Rudy Voller remained a man of his word after he was reported to say that Kai Havertz would not leave for less than 100 million euros by rejecting an 80 million bid from Real Madrid.
Friday
Christian Falk was apparently strong armed by social media into revealing his knowledge of the Sané rumors.
However, Jerome Boateng liked an instagram post that linked Leroy to the club, so clearly he’s still coming.
Javi Martinez was interviewed by Marca and discussed his future at Bayern saying that he has a contract till 2021 but has to discuss with the club regarding how they want to proceed. He also mentioned he could envision playing in the US, Australia or Spain again to finish out his career and believes he still has plenty to offer.
In that same interview, Javi was asked if he knew how many trophies he’s won throughout his career (21 if you care) to which he replied that he had no idea and that he barely remember he has children at times.
When asked during his Friday interview if Davies might need a break given that he has started the last 27 games for Bayern, Hansi Flick replied “He’s had a long break, so he can cope with playing.”
Klopp feels like Bayern are now one of the favorites for the Champions League given their form and that they will likely have a healthy squad. Meanwhile his former player Coutinho resumed training with a ball.
For your weekly update on Bayern’s right back search, Diario Sport claims that Bayern’s primary target this offseason (if you can call it that) will be Ajax defender Sergino Dest, but they also are keeping an eye on several other players including Barca’s Nélson Semedo. The reasoning, Dest is younger and, true to Bayern form, cheaper.
For all those looking to take a trip down memory lane, our beloved fußballgott’s documentary Schw31ns7eiger was released on Amazon Prime video.
Saturday
The match day started with a look at Bayern’s last 5 encounters with Leverkusen where they had lost the last two. While grasping at straws further, it was noted that Peter Bosz is the only Bundesliga manager with a winning record against Bayern.
Meanwhile, Falk continued the weeklong discussion of Kai Havertz, who would coincidentally not even play in Saturday’s match, by saying that despite reports, there was no agreement between Bayern and Kai regarding a transfer.
Bayern continued to support the activists for racial equality by coming out pregame in their “Rot gegen rassismus” shirts with an added #blacklivesmatter below. During the game the players also wore arm bands with the black lives matter slogan on them.
The game itself started rather poorly with Bayern going down a goal, Lewandowski picking up a 5th yellow and Müller doing the same a short time after, meaning the pair will miss the next game with Gladbach.
However things would turn around and Bayern would end up winning the match relatively easily 4-2. It also turned out to be a day for records. Bayern are the first team to score 90 goals in 30 matches in a Bundesliga season, Hansi Flick is the first manager to see his team score 62 goals in his first 20 matches (Opta). Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski scored his 43rd goal in all competitions, setting a personal best. It was also his 30th Bundesliga goal of the season with 4 (3 really) more matches remaining. Thomas Müller equaled Kevin De Bruyne’s Bundesliga assist record of 20 on the season and Thiago made his 150th Bundesliga appearance for Bayern.
Finally, Bild is reporting that the Champions League final tournament will be held in Lisbon.
