Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Wednesday December 4, 2024 at 4:05 p.m.
Everything needs a start, including at 38, even if the German football legend would undoubtedly have preferred to avoid that one.
However, he has made kamikaze exits outside his area to go into a duel with an opposing attacker… But for the first time in 867 matches and his debut at Schalke in 2006, the 2014 world champion goalkeeper is not not (at all) arrived in time and violently collided with Jeremie Frimpong in the 17th minute of the round of 16 of the German Cup between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen (0-1), Tuesday evening at the Allianz Arena.
-Sané: “We showed who was the boss despite one less player”
The last historic bastion of Bayern and the Mannschaft – even if he has just retired internationally after Euro 2024 and the defeat in the quarter-finals against Spain (1-2 in extra time) – has therefore suffered the first expulsion of his immense career. It was difficult for him to protest too much, as he hit his Dutch counterpart head-on and could also have injured him… He handed the captain's armband to Joshua Kimmich, the one who also succeeded him in German team (even if Manuel Neuer, over the last two years, had already seen Ilkay Gundogan recover this captaincy), then left at the same time as Leroy Sané, a poor collateral victim who had to give up his place so that coach Vincent Kompany tactically reorganizes his formation. The latter also appreciated the solidarity of his men.
Kimmich, for his part, wanted to hear even less about the red card: “It's just a shame that our first title possibility is already disappearing, it annoys me a lot and whatever the circumstances.” Leroy Sané also, despite his 19 minutes of play, expressed the strong general disappointment, because Bayern could still have qualified: “We showed who was the boss despite one player less, and that's exactly to That hurts too.” The Cup definitely did not work for the Bavarians, who missed the final for the fifth year in a row.
