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Joshua Kimmich (left) and Lucas Hernández
Photo: Tim Rehbein / RHR-FOTO / imago images / RHR-Foto
A touch of the film festival blew in Munich on Monday evening.
On a red carpet, professionals and officials of FC Bayern stepped into a cinema for the premiere of a new documentary: "FC Bayern - Behind the Legend," it is called.
A six-part series with insights into the world of the great football club.
It will start on November 2nd with the streaming service Amazon Prime.
From the Champions League triumph in August 2020 on, a camera team accompanied the team and followed them to the dressing room or to the doctor.
You can see the players' faces when Hansi Flick reveals his resignation as Bayern coach, you can hear Hasan Salihamidžić announcing enthusiastically about an opponent during a game: "I'll call his advisor tomorrow."
The series shows a success story, but the cheering for the premiere was overlaid by background noise.
The debate about the vaccination status of Joshua Kimmich, who, together with Leon Goretzka and the “We Kick Corona” initiative, had campaigned for the development and dissemination of vaccines, was the dominant topic that evening, as was the imminent jail sentence for defense attorney Lucas Hernández.
For the still new management of the club, these matters are the first real tests.
President Herbert Hainer and sports director Oliver Kahn said that you could not force anyone to vaccinate, but only make recommendations.
The answers to the resulting risks for the team and for the success of the club were evasive.
The increased viral load of unvaccinated players?
The long quarantine with a positive result?
"Now we come to the details," said club boss Hainer when asked by SPIEGEL: "The players are tested every other day, it's the decisions of each individual, and that has to be respected."
If there is trouble, Hoeneß will come
Two others became clearer, two protagonists who actually have nothing more to say, at least no longer in a leading position at FC Bayern - but have always intervened when there was unrest about their FC Bayern: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß, the old alpha duo that shaped this club for decades.
"If I know a player who has dealt with a lot of things responsibly and in an exemplary manner, then it's Joshua," said Rummenigge, adding: "I believe that he will make the right decision accordingly."
Ex-President Uli Hoeneß said: "The only one I talk to on this subject is Joshua himself. And that's what I did."
So the former bosses are still very close to the team.
In their tone, they also made the difference between the FC Bayern of yesterday and today clear: Hoeneß started directly to attack the media, which he had attacked again and again during his time as the active club boss.
"You're responsible for the tsunami," he blundered.
What was meant was the excitement about Kimmich.
And on the other hand there is now the new manager duo around Kahn and Hainer together with Hasan Salihamidžić, with whom everything seems a bit more cautious.
So far they only had to deal with one conflict with the dispute between Salihamidžić and ex-trainer Flick, otherwise they moderated a FC Bayern that is playing extremely successfully.
The development under the new coach Julian Nagelsmann is also promising this season.
But the past few days have changed the mood.
Suddenly it got uncomfortable.
The possible jail sentence for Lucas Hernández, after all the most expensive transfer in Bundesliga history, is now becoming a test of strength.
To him and the threatening consequences, Hoeness said: “It's all ridiculous.
He is married to his wife and is now going to jail for a story that happened years ago.
They're gaga. ”He didn't go into the facts of the case.
Rummenigge at least let it be known that after his resignation as club boss he would still like to get involved: "Now I have a different life, of course it's not that refreshing." He obviously can't let go of it completely.
Immediately before the entrance to the cinema there was a group photo with director Simon Verhoeven and producer Quirin Berg.
Hoeneß and Rummenigge had positioned themselves in the middle.
Oliver Kahn stood on the edge.
