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October 24, 2019

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Rummenigge slams ‘careless’ Bayern as injury strikes defender Hernandez

Source: AFP | 00:00 UTC+8 October 24, 2019 | Print Edition

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has slammed the team’s “careless” performance following a nervy 3-2 win at Olympiakos as the German giant lost another center-back to injury with Lucas Hernandez damaging ankle ligaments.

“I don’t think the performance we produced will bring us serious success if we don’t get a handle on things,” Rummenigge bluntly told the squad at the post-match banquet.

After three straight wins in Europe, Bayern is on its way to the knockout stages for a 12th season in a row. However, the stuttering away win came at a price as Hernandez suffered a “partial rupture of the inner ligament in his right ankle”, the club confirmed yesterday.

The 2018 World Cup winner, the most expensive signing in Bayern’s history, is expected to be out “for weeks” with fellow center-back Niklas Suele already sidelined for at least six months after tearing knee ligaments on Saturday.

Two goals by Robert Lewandowski turned Bayern’s fortunes in Athens on Tuesday after hosts Olympiakos grabbed an early Youssef El-Arabi goal.

Corentin Tolisso scored Bayern’s third goal midway through the second half with a curling long-range shot.

However, the German defense looked far from solid, especially after Olympiakos midfielder Guilherme beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to set up a tense final 10 minutes.

The performance — well below that of the dazzling 7-2 rout of Tottenham Hotspur in north London three weeks ago — also left Bayern’s director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic unimpressed.

“You could go crazy watching a game like that. Everything has to be better,” he complained to Sky.

For the fifth game in a row, Bayern conceded two goals in Athens, which especially annoyed Rummenigge.

“Again, we conceded two goals,” he fumed.

“We are playing too carelessly — that will lead to trouble at some point.”

Bayern tops Group B by five points ahead of second-placed Tottenham, which thrashed Red Star Belgrade 5-0 in north London, but the defending German champion is only third in the Bundesliga having dropped five points in its last two league games.

On Saturday, Bayern hosts giant-killer Union Berlin, which sits 14th in the table yet has already shocked Borussia Dortmund and SC Freiburg in its maiden Bundesliga season.

Rummenigge has called on Bayern’s stars to tackle Union at the Allianz Arena with “the greatest concentration and motivation to score three points” and get back to winning ways after conceding a late equalizer in last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Augsburg, which followed a shock 1-2 defeat at home by Hoffenheim.

As Rummenigge, a former German national striker, pointed out, Bayern can consider itself lucky, because “despite all the mistakes in the last few games, we are only one point behind” leader (Borussia) Moenchengladbach “at the top of the table.”

“On Saturday, we have the chance to become table leaders, that is the standard FC Bayern has set, we have to live up to that,” he added.

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