Bobic remembers

“Was deaf”: Ralf Rangnick set off firecrackers in the dressing room

Fredi Bobic (r.) remembers a curious moment under coach Ralf Rangnick (l.).(Bild: APA/ROBERT JAEGER/AFP/INA FASSBENDER)

"He had a great idea." In an interview with "ran", Fredi Bobic unpacked amusing, albeit curious, anecdotes from his career. Included: an almost eardrum-breaking move by coach Ralf Rangnick ...

Last matchday of the 1998/99 Bundesliga season: VfB Stuttgart face Werder Bremen, three points are absolutely essential against the "Sphinx of the North" if they want to stay in the top flight. Coach Ralf Rangnick resorts to an unusual measure to shake up his players.

Rangnick (left) sat on the bench in Stuttgart from 1999 to 2001.(Bild: dpa)

"He had a great idea - he threw a firecracker under the table," Fredi Bobic remembers the dressing room speech before his last game in a VfB shirt. "I had just gone to the table when Franz Wohlfahrt (59-time ÖFB goalkeeper, note) pulled me away."

"It just beeped"
An interesting way to motivate his players for the match ... A successful one, though - Stuttgart won 1:0. The goalscorer was Bobic, who was struggling with hearing problems during the game: "I couldn't hear a thing, my ears were completely closed. I felt deaf, it was just beeping." The moral of the story: "Always be careful when Ralf Rangnick wants to wake someone up - there might be a firecracker under the table somewhere."