No goal humiliation for Müller
Kleindienst saves himself “stress” with his best man
October 20, 2024, 11:02 a.m
Tim Kleindienst will play very successfully at 1. FC Heidenheim until the summer. Of all things, he now scores twice against his old love. At his new club, the new national player is becoming more and more of a leader – and is annoying his best man.
Tim Kleindienst was unable to implement his full-bodied plan against his best man. The match winner from Borussia Mönchengladbach was still happy after the 3-2 win against his former club Heidenheim. “Watch out, I’ll score a hat trick against you,” Kleindienst said to his good friend and FCH goalkeeper Kevin Müller before the game. “I wouldn’t have believed that I was so close.” With two goals, the 29-year-old was the celebrated man at Borussia Park.
Against Müller, who was at Kleindienst’s side on that special day in the summer of 2022, in the end “only” a hit with the backheel (62nd) and a converted penalty kick (75th) were achieved – probably for personal peace a good thing too. “He had announced three goals and a knee slide. If he had made the knee slide, I would have run after him,” said Müller with a grin on his face.
Long after the game, Kleindienst ran through the stadium’s catacombs. He swapped his jersey with Müller, had a long chat with former teammates and answered questions. With his remarkable heel goal and an ice-cold penalty, he had previously prevented Gladbach from slipping even deeper into the crisis and the pressure on coach Gerardo Seoane from increasing.
Sports director Virkus: “That does something to you”
“Today we saw what self-confidence means in football,” said Gladbach’s sports director Roland Virkus. “The fact that everyone who is down there can play in the Bundesliga – we don’t need to talk about that. But the head also plays a role. Tim comes from the national team and played two good games. That does something to you,” he explained. “He brought this self-confidence onto the pitch with his energy, his hard work, his goal threat. He did a lot for the team. That’s why we’re very proud that he’s here with us.”
In fact, Kleindienst’s first international games in Bosnia-Herzegovina (2:1) and against the Netherlands (1:0) seemed like an additional performance boost. Kleindienst had also had a good season before. But he improved again against his former club of all places. Not only did Kleindienst score twice, he was also constantly available to play, holding and distributing the ball up front.
Kleindienst has acquired a taste for it
“If you have experienced something as wonderful as what you have now with the national team, then you can also help the team if you can take this momentum with you,” he said. In the first game after his return from the DFB team, Kleindienst collected further arguments for being nominated again. “I can only do one thing: I can continue to give full throttle at the club to stay in the spotlight for a bit and then maybe it will work again,” he said.
But first he wants to help his team end a long negative streak. Since March 2022, Gladbach has not won two Bundesliga games in a row. This should finally work again next Friday at FSV Mainz 05 – with Tim Kleindienst as leader.
“He’s growing more and more into this role. That’s what we expected and he’s doing it brilliantly right now,” said Virkus. The 57-year-old, who was very critical after the 2-1 defeat against FC Augsburg before the international break, demanded: “It’s now our job to confirm exactly what we did today in the game against Mainz.”
