Enlarge image
"An absolute expert": Dino Toppmöller
Photo:
MARIO CRUZ / EPA
He is “relatively happy”, the “small analysis center” at the kitchen table is well equipped, and yes, he has “even perfume on it” for this appointment: Julian Nagelsmann seemed in a good mood when he left for the Bayern Munich matchday press conference on Friday afternoon quarantine at home.
Nagelsmann had tested positive for the corona virus on Wednesday. And since Dino Toppmöller had already stood on the edge of the field at Bayern's Champions League game in Lisbon, the assistant coach was also expected at the mandatory media round before the Bundesliga game against Hoffenheim (3:30 p.m., TV: Sky). But it was Nagelsmann who answered the journalists' questions - and initially gave detailed information about the past few days. How he felt the first cold symptoms at the game on Sunday in Leverkusen. How he has since subjected himself to a PCR test as well as a rapid test every day, initially all with negative results. And that finally the smear test on Wednesday afternoon in Lisbon led to the positive result that he learned about on Thursday morning.
According to the fully vaccinated Nagelsmann, the course of events surrounding the infection of the club still raises questions. In view of the symptoms, was it really necessary that Nagelsmann even started the flight in a plane with the delegation? In any case, FC Bayern emphasized that they are in "close contact with the health department" on all questions and that they clarify "all agreements with the authorities". If all upcoming tests for the team remain negative, Bayern should have all the professionals at their disposal, with the exception of Alphonso Davies (thigh problems) and Leon Goretzka, who had not even traveled to Lisbon because of a cold.
Nagelsmann left no doubt that he will be closely connected with his support staff around Toppmöller, Xaver Zembrod and video analyst Benjamin Glück in the stands during the game. He talked about his "analysis center built in isolation" on the kitchen table - with a large screen, with iPad, with laptop, among other things for parallel viewing of the live images including repetitions and tactical analysis in the scouting feed. And, of course, to "intervene" remotely, as he put it.
Perhaps he will resist one or the other kitchen call.
Because: "It is important to hold back and give the people who are responsible the necessary responsibility," said Nagelsmann, referring above all to his deputy Toppmöller, whom he brought with him from Leipzig like Zembrod and Glück.
"Dino can now be a bit in the spotlight and do his job very well and hopefully coach again from the sidelines so that we win the next game," said Nagelsmann.
“He's a person with an incredibly big heart and a lot of expertise.
It's not an easy situation for him, but he copes well because he already has a certain amount of experience as a head coach himself. "
Not just hat stands
The 40-year-old Dino Toppmöller was the head coach from 2016 to 2019 in Luxembourg, at the F91 Dudelange. In 2018, Toppmöller led the 15-time champions as the first club in the Grand Duchy to enter the group stage of the Europa League, with players who also worked as postmen, drivers and car salesmen.
In an interview with SPIEGEL, club president Gerry Schintgen remembers two big games against AC Milan, a close 0-1 at home and the 2-1 lead away in San Siro before they lost 5-2. The 56-year-old mainly spoke about the character of the successful coach at the time. "Dino was an absolute expert, always perfectly prepared, a very calm person, who at that time was already very mature for his young age," says Schintgen. "But he also demanded discipline, whoever didn't play along was punished."
In 2020 Toppmöller moved to Leipzig as an assistant coach after a brief and hapless episode in Belgium's second division. The then RB sports director Markus Krösche had called him, after two more phone calls with Julian Nagelsmann, Toppmöller was convinced. "You had chosen me as a full member of the coaching staff," he said at the time, "not as a hat stand." As in Leipzig, Toppmöller is now primarily responsible for rehearsing standard situations in Munich. Since he is also fluent in French, he is also the point of contact for the eight French in Bavaria's professional squad.
Former companion Schintgen trusts Toppmöller to play a permanent role as head coach in the Bundesliga.
“But he's intelligent enough to wait his time and not be dying to be head coach somewhere in a few months.
He has the patience necessary to continue slowly along the way. ”His time would come - to be in the spotlight for a long time.
