Salihamidzic unimpressed with Boateng party plan

Jerome Boateng’s plan to throw a party hours after Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga clash with title rivals Borussia Dortmund is ill-advised, says the club’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.

Boateng is reportedly set to hold a glitzy affair shortly after Bayern host Dortmund at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, a game that could decide the destination of the title.

Salihamidzic, though, is unimpressed with the move and said he would have advised Boateng to select another date, with Bayern sitting two points behind the leaders.

“I said I would not do this as a player,” Salihamidzic told reporters after Wednesday’s thrilling 5-4 DFB-Pokal quarter-final defeat of Heidenheim.

“Especially if I have this kind of game ahead and you don’t know what the result will be. I hope and I am sure that we will play a good game but, if he had asked, I would have told him he shouldn’t do it.”

#FCBFCH pic.twitter.com/4cTf7kb1qM

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) April 3, 2019

Thomas Muller was central to Bayern’s comeback against second-tier Heidenheim, scoring to make it 2-2 before setting up Robert Lewandowski to put Bayern in front, although the Poland striker still had to convert a late penalty to settle matters.

“Conceding four goals at home is too much,” Muller said in the post-match mixed zone. “But for us it’s going to be important to improve where we made mistakes and be better on Saturday.

“Offensively we can continue like this, but defensively, the whole team has to improve and we have to grow with the challenge. Another thing that was off today was that we probably thought we could just easily continue like this, but in the cup, that can’t happen.

“I am still a bit overwhelmed after the game. It’s maybe a bit easier for you to analyse the game than a player who was on the pitch. It was a ‘crazy thing’. Many things happened that we didn’t like and that should bother us.”

Niko #Kovac on #FCBFCH : “It was a wild game, an open game. At the end we had that slice of luck.” #FCBayern #DFBPokal pic.twitter.com/o9n28HTuuL

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) April 3, 2019

Coach Niko Kovac was also frustrated with the defending on show from Bayern despite his side showing character to fight back with 10 men, Niklas Sule having been dismissed after Leon Goretzka’s early header opened the scoring.

“I’m very upset, because we have many international players, many players who have achieved so much, who play on a very high level in international competitions,” he told a news conference. “And yet, they didn’t manage to control the game to the end like they should. The way it is in Bundesliga and all other leagues, too.

“I’m satisfied with the morale the team has shown, with one player down, to come back and go up 4-2, and win it 5-4 in the end. That shows we have a lot of quality. But one thing is for sure and I said it time and again, including at half-time, before the game, during the game, we have to be more compact. Being compact is the very basis for being able to play forward.

“But when you concede four goals, I can’t remember someone winning 5-4 in recent history, somebody should check the history books. So, I’m saying, you cannot concede four goals, with all due respect to Heidenheim, that can’t happen.

“No matter if it’s the second league, third league, fifth league or first league. That can’t happen. That’s what upsets me, but we won’t play two games like this one within a week. You can be sure of that.”