Quarrel before Real hit

Bayern hat is on fire! Tuchel lashes out at Hoeneß

Thomas Tuchel(Bild: APA/AFP/JOHN MACDOUGALL)

Bayern's hat is on fire: the spat between coach Thomas Tuchel and honorary president Uli Hoeneß overshadowed Bayern's 2:1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. After the win, the coach made a statement at the press conference ...

Tuchel was asked about Hoeneß' statements again after the match and didn't really want to say anything more on the subject. He had already reacted to it before the game and wanted to leave it at that, said the outgoing Bayern coach.

But then Tuchel went one better, addressing the timing of Hoeneß' criticism - just a few days before the Champions League first leg against Real Madrid. "There are ten incredibly important days ahead for all of us. There is no worse time for any kind of sideshow. It's all about Real Madrid, VfB Stuttgart and Real Madrid."

"Absolutely groundless"
Before the match against Frankfurt, Tuchel had already vented his frustration at Hoeneß' statements criticizing the coach's work with young players. "I have very little sympathy for that. I find it absolutely baseless," said Tuchel in the Sky interview. "It's so far removed from reality that I wouldn't have reacted to it at all if it hadn't come from Uli Hoeneß."

The Bayern legend had been quoted by a panel discussion in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" as saying that Tuchel "has a different attitude. He doesn't think he can improve an (Alphonso) Davies, (Aleksandar) Pavlovic or (Jamal) Musiala. If it doesn't work out, you should buy someone else." Hoeneß, on the other hand, said that "you should work hard on them and give them confidence".

Tuchel, who will have to leave Munich in the summer and may be replaced by current ÖFB team manager Ralf Rangnick, reacted angrily to the criticism. It was "so far removed" from reality that he didn't even know how to respond.

Tuchel's "coaching honor has been wounded"
Hoeneß' words scratched at his "deepest understanding" as a coach, said Tuchel, listing examples from his time at Mainz, Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea of young players that he and his coaching team had supported. He was "a little wounded in my coaching honor. If there is one thing we have proven in the coaching team over the last 15 years," said Tuchel, it is that "young players always have a place" in training and in the game.