After being eliminated from the German Cup on Tuesday following Freiburg’s 2-1 home defeat2-1 home defeat to Freiburg, captain Thomas Mueller said Bayern Munich had “come back down to earth.” After taking over for the fired Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel led Bayern to a 4-2 victory over Dortmund on Saturday to reclaim first place in the Bundesliga, keeping the Bavarians on track for a triple. However, a late penalty for Jamal Musiala’s handball, which Freiburg’s Lucas Hoeler scored, allowed the visitors to win at Bayern for the first time.
Since their treble-winning season in 2019–20, German Cup champions Bayern have now been ousted before the semifinals three years in a row.
Mueller, who scored two goals against Dortmund, described his feelings as being “disillusioned and brutally disappointed.” “(We’re) sitting here now with broken shards of something, for this year it’s over again in the German Cup,” Mueller said.
We have now mentally returned to earth, or at least gone a little lower. Even though Bayern had only dropped three games overall this season, Nagelsmann was fired during the international break.
The final “bit of greed and hunger” to win, according to Tuchel, was missing from his new squad. The goal was obviously to win, and we were in a position to do so, according to Tuchel, who won the German Cup in 2016–17 while coaching Dortmund.
On Saturday, Bayern will play Freiburg, who are currently in fourth place, once more, but this time away from home.
With eight Bundesliga games left, Bayern leads Borussia Dortmund by two points, with surprise challenger Union Berlin trailing by two points.
