Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski (l.) ran out with a captain’s armband in the colors of the Ukrainian national flag.
Photo: dpa/Arne Dedert
There was hardly anyone among the 25,000 spectators in the Frankfurt Arena who didn’t pull out their smartphone on Saturday. The message in white capital letters shone over the video cube for too long, the three words seemed too memorable: “Stop it, Putin!” Many even applauded when the teams from Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich (0: 1) observed a minute’s silence as a sign of sympathy.
Robert Lewandowski went even further that evening in his declaration of solidarity, who had decided to put on a captain’s armband in the Ukrainian national colors of blue and yellow in order to symbolically convey support to the war-torn neighboring country of his homeland Poland. »The situation is dramatic and the whole world must support Ukraine. The sport cannot take itself out. We must not accept what is happening there.«
The Bayern star, who was promoted to captain in the absence of Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller, played at the higher level this weekend: What can sport, especially professional football, which is omnipresent in the media, do to preserve at least traces of attitude when the world football association Fifa comes forward again everyone expresses responsibility?
Before the kick-off, the world footballer had supported the Polish Football Association via Twitter, which did not want to play the World Cup playoffs against the warmonger Russia at the end of March – just like Sweden, by the way. “I can’t imagine going out there in a month and forgetting what’s happening. Sure, sport is one thing – but you can’t get that out of your head and forget it.«
The fact that the Russian players can’t do anything for the war doesn’t change that. “We are all against war and didn’t think it would come to this. It hurts to see that now,” said the visibly moved 33-year-old after the end of the game, who had asked his national team colleague Tomasz Kedziora, who plays for Dynamo Kiev, about the situation in the Ukrainian capital.
The clear announcement of the goal scorer, who had not previously been noticed by political statements, seemed even more important than the next goal of the Bavarian number nine, who had gone empty-handed in the private duel against the Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who was outstanding as in the first leg. Lewandowski was also able to overlook it (and smile away at questions about his contract extension) because, apart from a rather negligent exploitation of chances on the Munich side, there was hardly anything to complain about in sporting terms. Apart from an early chance by Filip Kostic (7th), Bayern kept the opponent away from their own goal with consistent work against the ball and the pressure was so high throughout the game that the winning goal was inevitable.
The industry leader won almost two thirds of the duels – the best value of all Bundesliga clubs this season. That cannot be rated highly enough for the passionate Hessians, who actually define themselves through their ability to assert themselves in direct duels, praised coach Julian Nagelsmann: “We were the more aggressive team, so we deserved to win.”
His move paid off, not only to put national player Leroy Sané on the bench in favor of a more stable basic structure, but also, as he said, “to be able to add offensive power”. After a perfect pass from the greatly improved Joshua Kimmich, who spoke of a “battle victory” and a “really good mentality”, the noble technician easily pushed the ball past Trapp just four minutes after being substituted on (71′).
As much as Nagelsmann was happy about a “good step and a stable performance” before the home games against Bayer Leverkusen and RB Salzburg, the 34-year-old could not completely ignore the depressing news situation from Ukraine: “It affects everyone. It’s not that easy to concentrate on the job. I couldn’t have imagined that it would happen on such a scale in Europe.« Normally he is not afraid, but in this case he was afraid too.
And so the Bayern coach spanned the whole world at the press conference in the Frankfurt Arena on Saturday evening: “I wish, on a small and large scale, that there will be peace again quickly and that people will simply understand that we are all are only guests on the beautiful planet and treat each other peacefully in order to be able to enjoy life. At the moment it is anything but edible.«
