Bavarian Football Works
Were FC Bayern players stalling or legitimately hurt?
Union Berlin’s Rani Khedira is not happy with what he perceived to be stalling tactics employed by Bayern Munich the Bavarians’ 3-2 victory over the Iron Ones in the DFB-Pokal.
The 31-year-old midfielder was irate and targeted actions by Aleksandar Pavlović as a big part of the issue.
“When you play against such an opponent and they start playing for time from the 45th minute onwards, which was partly not penalized, then that’s respect enough [they’ve shown us]. Yes, [they were wasting time] from the 45th minute onwards. (Aleksandar) Pavlović is obviously injured – I wish him all the best. But he lay down for two minutes. And then the ball was played, and then he lay down again. That’s how he wasted time so he can make a substitution. That’s not fair play. But I’m not accusing the guy; I hope he gets well soon,” Khedira told Sky (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Well…it certainly does sound like Khedira accusing Pavlović of foul play. Later in the match, Josip Stanišić went down as well. Maybe it was gamesmanship, maybe it was over-the-top, or maybe the situations were legit. It is tough to tell sometimes given how many players are willing to a Neymar-stop-drop-and-roll after getting lightly touched in today’s game.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
