Thomas Tuchel discloses why he left Harry Kane on the bench as Bayern Munich stunned by third-tier side
Thomas Tuchel disclosed that Harry Kane was sidelined on the bench during Bayern Munich’s unexpected 2-1 defeat to third-tier Saarbrucken in the DFB Pokal due to a hamstring issue.
Despite the Bundesliga champions dominating possession with 75% and taking 18 shots compared to Saarbrucken’s four, the underdogs clinched an astonishing victory with a 96th-minute goal by Marcel Gaus, following Thomas Muller’s earlier goal for Bayern.
Despite fielding prominent players like Leroy Sane, Muller, Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies, and Manuel Neuer, Kane remained on the bench.
Tuchel stated that the England captain wasn’t utilized, despite Bayern’s urgent need for a goal, as he “felt his hamstring” before the match commenced.
“There was only one substitution left. I wanted to wait until extra time and wanted to check whether everyone could play until the end.”
On the result the former Chelsea manager said: “We weren’t arrogant or took it lightly. There are either 100 explanations or none. It feels strange.
“Everyone who says we have to win here is right. There’s no clever explanation, we are extremely disappointed. We really wanted to go to Berlin. It is what it is, we have to congratulate the opponent.”
Bayern’s sporting director, Christoph Freund, expressed his displeasure openly after the game, criticizing the team’s performance, particularly focusing on the subpar showing in the first half.
“I don’t understand how you can play such a bad first half – without courage, without speed, without aggressiveness – you can’t compete with any opponent like that,” he said.
“In the end, Saarbrücken’s win wasn’t undeserved. The disappointment is huge.”
Thomas Muller added: “You can find many reasons. All in all, we have to congratulate Saarbrücken on the fight, we just weren’t clever enough. We conceded a counter-attack in stoppage time after having already missed a lot of chances beforehand.
“We were overwhelmingly superior in the second half. We can congratulate Saarbrücken, they should be happy. We did some things wrong, but things could have gone differently tonight.
“The good thing is that we will play again in two days, even though that was of course a brutal blow. Being knocked out in the second round every time we play in the Pokal is not what we want. Our fans are also angry and rightly so.”
Thomas Tuchel discloses why he left Harry Kane on the bench as Bayern Munich stunned by third-tier side
