It was the “second club of my heart”, but Bastian Schweinsteiger was never really happy at Manchester United. That was mainly due to José Mourinho.
Munich – Bastian Schweinsteiger is one of the modern idols in German football. With FC Bayern Munich he won the most important trophies at national and international level and wore the jersey of the record champions for 17 years (including youth).
Schweinsteiger left FC Bayern for Manchester United
The hard cut followed in the summer of 2015 and Schweinsteiger began a new adventure shortly before his 31st birthday (August 1st). The midfielder moved to Manchester United. Now he has spoken about a dark chapter during his time on the island.
In the podcast “The Overlap” with Gary Neville, he said that in 2016 he was banned from entering the dressing room and taking part in training with the Red Devils under the direction of then team manager José Mourinho.
Schweinsteiger reveals dark career chapter: It started on his birthday of all days
Schweinsteiger, who reached the semi-finals of the 2016 European Championship with the German national football team and therefore started team training late, remembered his first session at United after that European Championship. He said that he “trained with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and thought it was great.”
But the situation quickly changed: “When I arrived at Carrington (United's training ground,
editor's note ) the next day, on my birthday, John Murtough (the then sporting director,
editor's note
)
was there .
there and said that I wasn’t allowed to go into the locker room – the coach said so.”
Schweinsteiger is leaving Manchester United after less than two years
As a result, the 2014 world champion had to train with the U16 team. Under Mourinho, who was signed by the Red Devils in the final stages of the preseason, Schweinsteiger only played four competitive games before moving to Chicago Fire in the USA in March 2017. For comparison: under Louis van Gaal, Mourinho's predecessor and former Bayern coach, Schweinsteiger played 31 competitive games in the 2015/16 season.
Schweinsteiger expressed his disappointment about the situation: “I was very sad because United was the second club of my heart.” Nevertheless, he decided at the time not to pass the story on to the media. “It’s more important for me to concentrate on football and behave the way I did,” emphasized the now 39-year-old.
Mourinho later apologized to Schweinsteiger
Mourinho, also known as "The Special One", later apologized for his behavior. “The first time anyone apologized was when I decided to leave Manchester United for America,” Schweinsteiger recalled. “I asked José if I could do it and he apologized for the way he treated me at the beginning. He had to let me go because he couldn’t do anything against me again.”
Schweinsteiger certainly imagined his time at Manchester United to be different. Ultimately, this gave us the opportunity to see another side of football - the time in Chicago had a big impact on the 121-time German national player.
Schweinsteiger recently enjoyed an action by his former Bayern colleague Manuel Neuer, who reached the Champions League semi-finals with the Munich team against Arsenal FC.
(akl)