Hansi Flick: Social responsibility more important than the treble right now

The DFL and DFB have just announced that all of this weekend’s matches will be postponed in light of the continued spread of COVID-19. They have finally decided to follow all of Europe’s other top leagues after receiving a great deal of criticism for waiting so long to suspend matches.

Bayern Munich’s match against Union Berlin, which was still scheduled to take place tomorrow, Saturday, was among the matches officially suspended by the announcement from the DFL and DFB.

Bayern head coach Hansi Flick responded by saying that suspending the games was absolutely the right call, and that everyone now needs to focus on their social responsibility to contain the spread of the virus (SportBild). Making the right decisions during this pandemic, he said, is more important than football, even though Bayern is pushing hard on all three fronts and in a fine run of form:

We have a chance to be successful in all three competitions this year. The Treble, which is always a topic, seems doable. But that is not important right now, but rather accepting our social responsibility collectively.

Personally, Flick said he’s not afraid of the virus, but he understands that many people have loved ones who have been effected by this outbreak:

I am not worried particularly for my wife and myself. But everyone has someone dear to them in their family who are in the group at risk.

The timing of this pandemic has been especially disappointing for Bayern because of how well they’ve been playing, but Flick is right. There is a social responsibility for everyone to take the right precautions to help limit the spread of the virus and ultimately save lives.