Bayern’s sports director Salihamidzic struggles to keep his composure, Lewandowski finds clear words
Hasan Salihamidzic experienced at first hand what war means. The sports director of Bayern fled from what was then Yugoslavia to Germany. The Russian invasion of Ukraine brings back bad memories. Robert Lewandowski also finds emotional words.
Hasan Salihamidzic had trouble finding the right words. Bayern Munich’s sporting director was visibly moved and struggled to regain his composure when asked about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before Bayern’s 1-0 win in Frankfurt, he was reminded of his youth, when he had to experience a war up close.
“The fact that I experienced this time is the worst time you can experience,” Salihamidzic told Sky broadcaster when he looked back at his escape from what was then Yugoslavia to Germany 30 years ago because of the Balkan war. “My family was down there. The worries you have are unimaginable.” Salihamidzic was 15 at the time.
Hasan Salihamidzic had to flee the Yugoslav war at the age of 15. He found a new home in Hamburg
Source: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein
“I just can’t believe that we are having a war of aggression in the middle of Europe at this time,” said the 45-year-old on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I’m shocked — like all of us — and I hope this stops very soon.” Salihamidzic was born in Jablanica (now Bosnia and Herzegovina), in what was then Yugoslavia.
Lewandowski plays with a blue and yellow armband
Before the game was kicked off, both teams protested against the Russian invasion with a minute’s silence, and the advertising boards in the Frankfurt Arena addressed the Russian President Vladimir Putin with the slogan: “Stop it, Putin!”
Bayern’s captain Robert Lewandowski also made a point. In addition to the captain’s armband on his right arm, the Pole wore a armband in the national colors of Ukraine, blue and yellow, on his left arm.
Robert Lewandowski wears an armband in the Ukrainian national colors in the game against Frankfurt
Source: dpa/Arne Dedert
“I decided to wear this pad this morning. What is happening there is unacceptable. I never thought this could happen. That hurts. It’s all dramatic. I hope that the whole world will protect Ukraine,” Lewandowski said.
Germany supplies weapons from Bundeswehr stocks
Germany will deliver weapons from the stocks of the Bundeswehr to Ukraine, according to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. The armed forces are supported by 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 “Stinger” surface-to-air missiles.
The Pole was supposed to play with his national team against Russia in the play-offs for the World Cup in Qatar on March 24 in Moscow. But the Polish Football Association has announced that it will boycott the game because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A decision that Lewandowski fully supports: “I don’t think you can take sport out of politics. I can’t go out on the pitch in Moscow and forget what’s happening in Ukraine right now.”
