Prior to Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw at Augsburg last weekend, it had felt like ages since they had last played due to the international break. It was the first of its kind that lasted a span of 16 days—predominantly featuring UEFA Nations League matches for Bayern Munich’s internationals—and headlines focused heavily on the beginning of Jürgen Klopp’s reign as German national team manager.
As is often the case after international breaks, Bayern were not able to hit their usual heights at Augsburg, and the momentum from their 7-0 win over Union Berlin before the break was well and truly a thing of the past. Of course, a bit more luck on their side could have seen one of Bayern’s four disallowed goals actually count, but a rare Manuel Neuer mistake gifted Augsburg what was the fastest Bundesliga goal ever recorded right from the get-go, setting the tone for what was a tricky affair for the German Rekordmeister.
While Bayern weren’t terrible at Augsburg by any stretch of the imagination, most of the squad being away for so long and having only a few training sessions together prior to league play resuming was always going to take its toll. To add to that, Vincent Kompany might have to make rotations for the midweek Champions League clash at Viking FK, which comes four days before a tough clash versus RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
Speaking on the international break and its ramifications, honorary Bayern president Uli Hoeneß was rather critical of the extended version allowed for international matches. For him, having a long break so soon after the start of the season is far too disruptive, especially with so many players doing a great deal of traveling.
“We’re the ones suffering the most from the long World Cup. Our players came back late, and then the Bundesliga started on August 25. I think it’s a disaster by UEFA to organize a two-week break only four weeks after the start of the season. We had 18 players traveling, so it’s perfectly normal to lose our rhythm. The clubs must finally stand up for themselves because we pay the players, not their national teams. And that’s for a silly competition like the Nations League. It’s the joke of the year,” Hoeneß told Bild (via @iMiaSanMia).
This past break resulted in a handful of injuries to key superstars for top European clubs, a plethora of players asking to withdraw from their national teams, and club managers left trying to rapidly regroup ahead of club play resuming this past weekend.
Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovač shared Hoeneß’s sentiment and expressed his own frustration at the length of the international break, stating that they were basically starting from scratch again. As fate would have it, Dortmund dropped points to Werder Bremen at home, drawing 2-2 at the Westfalenstadion after two very late goals from Bremen. That happened to be Dortmund’s first slip-up of the season, bar their 2-1 Franz Beckenbauer Supercup loss to Bayern before the start of the Bundesliga campaign.
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