2nd matchday
Leverkusen’s coach in the “roller roller coaster of emotions”
Leverkusen’s coach Gerardo Seoane was unable to prevent his team’s defeat. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Three competitive games, three defeats: Bayer Leverkusen made a complete false start in the Bundesliga. Now last year’s third even lost against his favorite opponent.
Private happiness, sporting worries: Bayer Leverkusen’s coach Gerardo Seoane has had some extremely emotional days.
“It was a roller coaster ride of emotions,” said the Swiss after the Bundesliga club’s 2-1 home defeat against their favorite opponent FC Augsburg.
birth of his fourth child
On Friday, Seoane was beaming with joy at the press conference and told about the birth of his fourth child on Thursday. A day later he sat on the podium much more sadly and tried to explain the third defeat in the third competitive game – and thus Bayer’s biggest false start since promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. “You have to try to separate that,” said the 43-year-old : “A birth is something with many wonderful emotions. Today it’s the opposite: a lot of frustration, a lot of disappointment.”
After third place last year, Bayer was considered by some experts to be the secret favorite in the title race. Ambitious goals were also formulated by the club. “You’re ambitious, you want to get better,” said Seoane: “At the same time, that creates a certain amount of pressure internally and from the media. You expect more and more.”
His players apparently dragged this pressure into the unsuccessful start to the season with defeats in the cup at third division Elversberg (3: 4) and in the league in Dortmund (1: 2) and against FCA, against whom Bayer had never lost in 22 league games . “That was the worst possible time for it,” said club boss Fernando Carro: “We had a thousand chances to score.” Seoane now wants to clear the blockages in her head. “You can feel that we don’t have the necessary calm and clarity,” he said: “That’s why it’s all the more important now to simplify things and not make things more difficult.”
Happy Augsburgers
In the end Augsburg had three match winners. The new coach Enrico Maaßen, who showed a lucky hand when he brought in the first goalscorer Fredrik Jensen (15th) in the starting XI for André Hahn – and then winning goalscorer Hahn (82nd) as a joker. The recently criticized goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz, who made an outstanding save in the second half. And just rooster.
When asked what was decisive, he answered: “Rafa, he played an outstanding game, I don’t know how many hundred percent he held.” All of this is all the more remarkable given that potential successors for the Pole have been discussed several times in recent weeks. “That’s our business,” said Hahn: “But Rafa has shown that he is not impressed by it. He has collected many arguments for himself. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes.”
But Hahn’s story was also special. He sat on the bench on his 32nd birthday of all times. “I had an open conversation with the coach at the beginning of the week. That was really great,” said Hahn. Not playing on your birthday is “just business too”. In the end it was “a very nice birthday. The family was in the stadium especially. There will definitely be a little beer on the way home today.”