It was a strange time at Bayern Munich in 2021. There were internal fights, there were monetary concerns due to COVID-19, but the club’s first ever sextuple was being complete. And then there was a big transition as many of the figures in power stepped back. One was expected, with Oliver Kahn’s arrival in January clearly meant to prepare him to take over from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. The other was not, as Hansi Flick, orchestrator of the sextuple, decided to leave the Bayern job.
Speaking over three years later, having returned to Bayern during the club’s time of need, Rummenigge spoke of the man who guided Bayern to such incredible heights in 2020 with a note of extreme regret over his departure:
“I was very sorry [to see him leave]. When do you have a coach who can win you seven titles in a year and a half? And that’s despite the fact that the start wasn’t easy. At Christmas we were four points behind RB Leipzig, which was still coached by Julian Nagelsmann at the time – and then on matchday 34 we were 16 points ahead. And FC Bayern didn’t lose a single game under Hansi Flick in the rest of the 2020 season. That’s a nice memory,” Rummenigge reminisced, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “We marched through with him in a way that was legendary. I’ll never forget Lisbon. Hansi was totally convinced. After the 8-2 win against Barcelona back then, he said: ‘Great things are happening here, we’re going to win the Champions League.’ – I thought that was very brave, but he proved it.”
Flick’s swift departure truly was a shame, though it allowed the incredible achievement of the sextuple to remain the defining part of his tenure. Now at FC Barcelona, Flick is continuing where he left off at club football with Bayern with some incredible results, even managing to wash away any left over anger the club’s supporters felt towards him after the 8-2 embarrassment.
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