Was ambitious of Bayern to bet on Nagelsmann: Lahm

Philipp Lahm sounds confident that the situation can be salvaged. It would have been at any club, one point off the top with nine matches to go and with a significantly better goal difference than the team in pole position. But this is Bayern Munich, serial winners of Bundesliga, European elite, football royalty. A club with such a vast network of legends – among them Lahm – that in 2011, the company they sourced stationary from was owned by one, former defender Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, a world and European champion with West Germany. At the time, Uli Hoenness, Gerd Mueller and Paul Breitner, Schwarzenbeck’s teammates in all-conquering club and country teams, were part of Bayern Munich as was Karl Heinz Rummenigge.

It was also a time when Bayern’s dominance in Germany was challenged. From 2010 to 2012, they had won zero Bundesliga titles. Their nemesis: Borussia Dortmund. As Bayern ready to welcome them in Bundesliga’s Der Klassiker on Saturday, Dortmund have 53 points from 25 games. Bayern have one less but that was reason enough to replace Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel.

“It was very ambitious to bet on Nagelsmann,” says Lahm of the manager who was 33 when Bayern appointed him in 2021. Age was part of the problem in managing a changing room where Manuel Neuer was older and many big names nearly Nagelsmann’s age. “Experience is a value that is part of a good manager. This will help him in future. He is a good coach for sure.”

But the situation could have been handled better. Reacting to reports of Nagelsmann hearing of his ouster on social media, Lahm says: “If you experience this from newspapers… social media, it is not good. For a big club.”

Nagelsmann went because at Bayern you have to win every game, says Lahm. “The team has failed to do that too often this year. The task for the rest of the season is to change that in the right way.” Ergo, Champions League winner and runner-up Tuchel, who was a worthy successor to Juergen Klopp at Dortmund.

Bayern have won all eight games in the Champions League but only 15 of their 25 in Bundesliga. They have had seven draws, two more than all of last season on way to their 11th successive league title, and lost 1-2 to Bayer Leverkusen before the international break, a result that sealed Nagelsmann’s fate.

Lahm, 39, thinks the next few weeks will define Bayern’s season. There is also a German cup quarter-final next week and they play Manchester City in the Champions League round of eight. “The situation is very good because they are in all competitions. But now it is about titles. That is important for Bayern Munich,” says the former Germany and Bayern captain and 2014 World Cup winner on a Zoom call arranged by Sony Sports.

But what if it goes south? “I don’t think they will lose these four big games. But if they do, I don’t know… Out in cup, out in championships..” Through a 5 o’clock shadow, Lahm’s smile shows great teeth and conveys that he cannot believe what he is saying.

In 13 games this year, Dortmund’s only loss ended their run in the Champions League. They go to Munich beating FC Cologne 6-1. “I think Dortmund are in a good phase, they have confidence but at home, with the (greater) experience of the Bayern Munich players…”, says Lahm with a sweep of the right hand to emphasize the importance of the match being at Allianz Arena. But should Dortmund open a four-point lead, it will be good for Bundesliga, he says.

But it won’t be good for the league if Jude Bellingham leaves, as he is likely to in the summer, Lahm is asked. “I don’t know what will happen but he is a very talented player. It is important for a young player to play at a top team every week. And I think Dortmund is a top team,” he says.