Stand: 23.06.2024, 11:33 a.m.
Von: Hanna Raif
PressSplit
A ZDF documentary also shows the national player Joshua Kimmich from another side – and his relationship with FC Bayern Munich.
At the moment, Joshua Kimmich is almost always seen laughing. The European Championship appearances are also a lot of fun for the man who has had to put up with a lot at FC Bayern in recent years. A completely different Joshua Kimmich can be seen in the documentary “Joshua Kimmich – Leader and Driver”, which is now available in the ZDF media library. Kimmich is sitting in front of his laptop in his house in Munich. Kimmich is crying.
The recordings are from December 2021, when the Bayern professional, who had not yet been vaccinated against Corona at the time, was in quarantine. The now 29-year-old appears desperate, sad, angry – and in a sequence recorded three months later, he also says clearly what he felt at the time. The words “I felt left alone for too long” are directed at FC Bayern and its bosses. Kimmich explains further: “I have been at the club for almost seven years now and there have not been that many scandals surrounding me. That was the first downturn, that’s when I noticed how the club reacted and I am accordingly disappointed and also hurt.”
There was no support for the man who was considered a pillar of security for the future of the record champions. Kimmich had, as he explains, “extended his contract with the aim of winning the Champions League twice with the club in the next four years.”
Today we know that this did not work. But some of what Joshua Kimmich said in the vaccination debate has stuck: “This feeling of trust that I had previously had in the club has of course been destroyed.” The trust was so shaken “that it cannot be rebuilt over one or two conversations.”
A good two years have passed since then, but Kimmich still remembers that time well, even now that a decision about his future at the club is pending. It hurt him that those in charge simply let the vaccination debate about him continue. Only Uli Hoeneß stood up for him. It was only late, at the annual general meeting, when the topic was already old, that President Herbert Hainer also publicly defended him.
In the documentary, former sports director Matthias Sammer says of the public figure Joshua Kimmich: “We are at a level in our country where I completely understand that Joshua is not understood.” Kimmich did not feel understood when it came to vaccinations, and he also had to endure a lot of criticism in terms of sport. In the documentary, however, he receives a lot of support from his colleagues. The former Bayern player and current national coach Julian Nagelsmann says: “Joshua Kimmich is a warrior who can also lead, who always wants to win.”
Can you do without a man like that? There have been no talks about a contract extension. Kimmich also took note of that – before he left for the EURO.
