Tuesday evening, during the second day of the Champions League group stage, Bayern Munich, who had nevertheless trailed by two goals at the break, thought they could hold on to their victory against the Norwegians Viking FK. But the match changed again at the start of the last quarter of an hour. Already warned for a shirt pulling a few moments earlier, Michael Olise was guilty of an ugly gesture of humor.
During a crowd, he actually sent the ball straight into the head of an opposing player. Immediately sanctioned with a second yellow card synonymous with expulsion, the Habs left their partners numerically inferior and saw them break down in the last moments of the match, the Norwegians thus managing to snatch the equalizer (3-3).
Despite this twist of fate, Vincent Kompany did not want to unnecessarily burden his player. “He knows he made a mistake,” declared the Bavarian coach at a press conference.
“You can see that he is sorry for what happened and that he regrets letting the team down. It’s absolutely no big deal: this kind of thing happens. Today was neither a final nor a semi-final, but these are the kinds of moments that can have a decisive impact on a season. »
“I told him that the opponent had been smarter than him”
Far from exonerating the former Crystal Palace player, the Belgian technician underlined the lack of lucidity in the face of the opponent’s cunning: “I told him that the opponent had been smarter than him”explained the coach. “When you’re clearly better than your opponent, sometimes you just have to play your game and focus on being the better team rather than getting dragged into unnecessary situations. We can’t change anything now. I hope we can look back on this as a moment where we learned a lesson. »
However, the manager did not look for any pretext to justify this loss of composure: “Michael is a player who will always be provoked by his opponents, but that is not an excuse,” concluded the coach. “It’s 100% his fault. He is also aware of it. We can’t claim to deserve to win the match when we make individual decisions like this, even if I think we didn’t play badly. We didn’t deserve to win because we made mistakes that shouldn’t happen. »
In addition to the two precious points lost on the way, this gesture is costly for the rest of the competition. Suspended next Wednesday, Michael Olise will miss the crucial clash against Arsenal for the third day.
