MY ACCOUNT
Bayern Munich chief executive Oliver Kahn insists the club are “totally convinced” by head coach Julian Nagelsmann, while he hit out at the “cowardly” death threats towards the manager.
The Bundesliga side crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in midweek to Villarreal, leaving the German top-flight title as the only major trophy Nagelsmann can manage in his first season.
Bayern can restore their nine-point lead at the Bundesliga summit when they visit Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday, meaning the league would be almost secured with four games left to play after the weekend.
However, Nagelsmann revealed in the build-up to the clash with Arminia that online abuse and threats, including towards his mother, have become commonplace in the wake of defeats for Bayern.
Kahn, speaking to German TV channel Sport1, acknowledged criticism in a high-pressure role is expected but says “limits are being far exceeded” with such threats.
“We all know it, we know what happens when FC Bayern is in this situation,” he said. “That’s part of it, you have to be able to deal with criticism.
“Here, however, limits are being exceeded, now far exceeded. What’s going on with people who are sending death threats to other people out of anonymity?
“There is nothing more cowardly than discrediting other people out of anonymity. We will think about whether we can and must put a stop to it.”
As for the success of the former RB Leipzig head coach Nagelsmann, who conceded the Bundesliga title alone was not enough at Bayern, Kahn fully supports the 34-year-old.
“We want to emphasise that we’re totally convinced,” he added on the Bayern boss. “We want to continue on this path with him. He knows what’s important to us.
“In addition to the development of the younger players, you can see that [Jamal] Musiala is a positive development, you could also see that he pulled [Leroy] Sane out of the slump in form.
“That’s what we expect from him. Of course, we also want to strengthen. We knew that Julian was a young coach, that’s what we wanted too.
“We knew that there would be one or two setbacks and that’s part of the path we want to take.
“Of course we always have the highest demands at Bayern Munich. But if we look at the season and also look at the data, then we have made some progress.
“Especially in terms of defence, for example, we conceded 10 goals fewer than at the same time last season and scored the same number of goals.
“We lost important players, David Alaba and Jerome Boateng but on the other hand, you have to see that we conceded 44 goals last season.
“It was our goal to become more stable, we’ve achieved that, we’ve become more flexible. This team is always capable of delivering top performances.”
