Professional football is, as the moralists never tire of emphasizing, a “billion-dollar business”. That doesn’t mean that people can’t be nice to each other, too. During the cup game between Viktoria Köln and FC Bayern Munich, they were even particularly nice to each other. It all started with the guests leaving half of their share of the ticket sales to the third division team and also ensuring a full house in Müngersdorf with their supporters. 50,000 people came from all corners of North Rhine-Westphalia and the wider area, most of them from the community of Bavaria admirers.
For these visitors, as their behavior indicated, it was a wonderful evening, although not quite as wonderful as for the members of FC Viktoria, who returned happy to their side of the Rhine. They lost 5-0, yes, but they didn’t get 15 or 20 balls into their goal, as coach Olaf Janßen had seriously feared after studying the opponent. A “queasy feeling” had crept over him, as he admitted late Wednesday evening. Bayern’s counter-pressing and positional play are “extremely exceptional,” enthused Janssen, a veteran Bundesliga professional with 1. FC Köln and Eintracht Frankfurt. The 55-year-old coach was not only happy that his team held up well and kept a clean sheet for more than half an hour. He also thanked Bayern Munich for “having no sympathy for us” after their first goals and instead continuing to play ambitiously. For what is more humiliating than the pity of the superior? Especially the Viktoria goalkeeper Ben Alexander Voll, 21, benefited from Bayern’s ambition. He was able to show enough spectacular saves to recommend himself for a million dollar contract in the Premier League before the transfer market closed.
Julian Nagelsmann also left the house satisfied, after initially having to grumble because the necessary body tension was missing here and there. Serge Gnabry and Sadio Mané, for example, seemed to have imagined things to be a little easier. But the evening should finally confirm the Bayern coach’s impression that the generally unsatisfactory previous season could be followed by a better year. “The spirit is very, very important,” he summarized his findings, not referring to spiritual enlightenment, but to the combination of commitment and cooperation that he sees in his team.
The evening in Cologne gives an idea that the calculation with Tel could work out
The players who joined in the summer have already felt the culture of the house. The sensational performance of 17-year-old striker Mathys Tel gave Nagelsmann the opportunity to praise the self-regulating forces in the dressing room. Tel, who came from Rennes for an equally sensational 25 to 30 million euros, was already noticed by the fact that he naturally kept up the level of his teammates. His dribbling, his start, his shot on goal (which made it 2-0 just before the break) all had an impressive dimension. “He has a footballing class that is innate,” said sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic with a pride that cannot be blamed on him. Putting that much money into a teenager is a gamble. The evening in Cologne gave an idea that the calculation could work out.
According to Nagelsmann, Tel, who only made a few short appearances at Stade Rennes, has not shown any false fear of his famous colleagues since his arrival. From time to time it was even not enough shyness. Nagelsmann said he “sometimes overdid it” with the ball-loving solos: “Fortunately, the team hygiene is so good that he got an enema when he didn’t play.” Luckily for Tel, Jens Jeremies no longer plays for Bayern, otherwise it might have become painful.
This time nobody had to correct the young Frenchman, Tel lined up and was noticed by the fact that he fit perfectly into the offensive game. “He’s a player we need,” said Nagelsmann. A sentence that must have caused horror among the competition – one would think that Munich’s top players would meet the requirements even without a 17-year-old special talent. A look at the substitutions on Wednesday evening supported this view. Viktoria sports director Franz Wunderlich was amazed: “One ICE goes out and the other ICE comes in.”
The fast-moving comparison particularly applied to substitute Leon Goretzka, who actually rushed forward like an all-terrain tractor before making it 5-0 (82nd). With the promising debut of newcomer Ryan Gravenberch and the return of national player Goretzka, who has been cured of a knee injury, Nagelsmann finds himself in a difficult situation when filling his central midfield. Cologne coach Olaf Janßen dared to make a prediction about the FCB project when he said goodbye to his Munich colleague. “I think,” he said with a smile, “it’ll be fine.”