Comments after the Hoffenheim match

It was supposed to be a straight forward conclusion to an incredible performance by the German record champions. They surprisingly scored six goals away against TSG Hoffenheim and that despite Robert Lewandowski not starting because of a fracture in his tibia. After all, TSG Hoffenheim had beaten the mighty Bavarian side on match day seven (2-1) and while their form wasn't great of late, no one expected this Munich side to score with such ease.

The unforeseen goal scoring wasn’t to be the only thing that shocked everyone at the PreZero Arena in Sinsheim. In the 67th and 77th minute play was stopped due to unruly behaviour in the Bayern Munich away block. Flares were set off and inappropriate songs were being sung about Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp. The Bayern Ultras also revealed a banner which read, “Everything is still the same, the DFB (German Football Federation) has not kept its word. Hopp is still a son of a w….”.

Here are some of the responses to what happened on Saturday the 29th of February 2020.

Bayern Munich head coach, Hansi Flick:

“We can’t ignore the game completely. I don’t want to do that because my team showed a sensational performance here after their game against Chelsea. So they also deserve to get a mention, regarding the result.

There is no place for what happened next. I personally grew up in this region and I have known Dietmar Hopp for around 20 years and I am truly sorry for what happened here today. He is a man who has done so much for the region but also through his cancer research. The things that Hopp supports in medical research has probably affected one of the anarchists that were up there today and they should really think about what they are doing.”

He went on by complimenting the two teams for standing together against the behaviour of the away fans, in the final minutes of the match. Scenes in which both sets of players decided to kick the ball around in defiance of what the Bayern Ultras had done.

He also added: “Those things that happened have nothing to do with football … I hope we can stop these things from happening because it can’t go on like this.”

When asked about finding an explanation for what the fans did, Hansi Flick responded:

“I can’t explain what they did. That has nothing to do with football and it also has nothing to do with supporting your team. Those fans should stay at home. It is important that if I go somewhere and witness such an amazing football game, from my own team, then I should be content with that. They should tell themselves that it was worth coming here and everything else is not welcome.”

Hansi Flick’s response to being asked whether or not there should be harsher consequences to such actions:

“Yes, absolutely. I think we should start making examples of these occurrences, more so than we have. We should be tough about these kind of happenings. It is time that we start defending ourselves that we stand up. There have been many occurrences in the past, whether it be Münster or also today, we should stand up against these anarchists and one can also call them idiots. It is important that we stand up against this together.”

Further comments:

“It is a dark day for Bayern Munich … I am so disappointed by what happened today.”

“I heard it happened in Dortmund as well, there is no place for this kind of behaviour.”

“Those two actions were planned and they knew exactly what they were doing.”

TSG Hoffenheim head coach, Alfred Schreuder:

“Everyone is greatly disappointed that this happened here today. The football result was very disappointing for us but what happened after that was even more disappointing for us. Because … Dietmar Hopp doesn’t deserve this. Everything he has done for Hoffenheim and for the entire region and also what he has done for us and for all the players, it is just such a shame that this happens. We’re very sad about it; and we also have to apologise to Dietmar Hopp that this happened. I thought the reaction of the two teams was very good and I don’t really have much more to say about it.”

Bayern Munich Chief Executive Officer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge:

“I am ashamed of what happened in the ‘Kurve’ today. I apologised to Dietmar Hopp but it is actually inexcusable. I can only say that I have the utmost respect for how things went in the last 13 minutes. That was the consensus among the players of both teams. It was an important point of view, namely that we won’t tolerate what happened here. It is not the first time that this has happened to Dietmar Hopp and all of us need to take a stance on this in the Bundesliga.

It is a dark day for football.”

A game that will live on for a while still, mainly for the wrong reasons, sadly.