Uli Hoeneß slams “not Bayern-like” collapse vs. Borussia Dortmund

There’s a saying that in times of adversity, character is revealed. Bayern Munich may be well past their first brush with tough times this season, but every time so far, they’ve clawed their way back. The Der Klassiker flameout against Borussia Dortmund will be the latest test, and the old lion and former club president Uli Hoeneß was quick to lay out the message for his troops.

“It’s actually not Bayern-like,” Hoeneß declared for Bayerischer Rudfunk, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “If you lead 2-0 then you should win the game. Bayern-like is just to have a lot of self-confidence and say to the others: Now there’s still more to come and then you hit them with the third goal!”

Indeed, while the Bavarians had chances to add on a third, they failed to really take them with conviction. And even both the first two goals — which came through long-range strikes from Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sané, respectively — had some element of luck and goalkeeper error to them, it must be said.

If Bayern fans would like to reach for the excuses — after all, Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich were two high-impact absences due to untimely COVID-19 infections, and their status hung uncertainly throughout the week of game prep — Uli was having none of it. It's not the Mia san Mia way, after all, and the quality still fielded, including phenoms such as Jamal Musiala, should have been enough.

But nor is Uli throwing in the towel.

“Nevertheless, we played in front of 80,000 spectators at probably the second best club in Germany,” he concluded. “We played an excellent game for over seventy minutes. But in the last twenty minutes we didn’t take advantage of our chances and gave Dortmund the chance to come back.”

There’s recognition of falling short, and the determination to come back stronger. Will Bayern have it in them to do the latter — and more permanently this time?

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