We won’t let Bayern humiliation scar us forever
THE devastating loss at Bayern Munich this season is undoubtedly one of the darkest hours of my footballing career. It’s in the top five of the most humiliating defeats I’ve suffered.
We were positively prepared for the game. Arsene Wenger had revealed to us his game plan. He was very clear about his ideas — and they were good ones.
Our intention was to go all out for Bayern’s central defender Mats Hummels; to prevent him from opening up the game which he does so brilliantly. We wanted to force him to play the ball to Javi Martinez, who’s also a fine central defender but who isn’t great at opening up the game. In this way we hoped we’d be able to stop Bayern from building up the play at an early stage and disrupt their rhythm.
Wenger also warned us about Douglas Costa and his speed over the first five to 10 metres, as well as Arjen Robben.
Of course I could go on about why our game plan didn’t work. I could look for excuses. But I’m not going to. What went on between us in the dressing room after the match is nobody’s business. Nor is what Wenger considered our failures to be in his post-match analysis. The fact is, we all failed. We were all bad! We played a game that held a mirror up to our faces.
It was a performance we can’t just brush aside. No, we have to learn our lessons from it. We all have to ask searching questions of ourselves and accept responsibility for the defeat. All the players, all the trainers, even the management. Because this fiasco also represents a great opportunity!
When I was at Real Madrid and we lost to Barcelona, Jose Mourinho said: ‘Forget the game... don’t think about it any more. I’m sure we’re going to break Barcelona’s dominance in this country. I’m sure we’re going to be champions. But we won’t do it if we allow this defeat to get on top of us.’
That’s how we have to deal with it now, too. I have thought long and hard about the match. I’ve visualised what went wrong. But I can’t allow
this game to inhibit me in the future and destroy my confidence, which is the most important thing a footballer can have on the field. This defeat mustn’t get the better of any of us.
In my footballing life I’ve often fallen flat on my face and been knocked to the ground. But I’ve always got up again and won victories and titles following the defeat.
In spite of the disappointments with Germany in South Africa and Poland and Ukraine, we became world champions. In spite of the humiliation at the hands of Barcelona we won the Spanish league at Real Madrid. And this defeat by Bayern will produce something good at the end, too.
It has left me with a little scar. Just like the scornful sledging I received at the start of my adventure in England, the blue marks on my shins and the bruises on my torso, it has made me tougher, harder-nosed and better able to take what’s thrown at me. And I’m going to prove it!