"Felt completely wrong": How Toppmöller experienced his Bayern sacking | OneFootball

Dino Toppmöller had to accept his dismissal as Julian Nageslmann's assistant coach at FC Bayern. Now, the current head coach of Eintracht Frankfurt speaks about it.

Dino Toppmöller has openly discussed his dismissal from FC Bayern in an interview and described how surprising and painful the departure was for him. In the BILD podcast "Phrasenmäher", the current coach of Eintracht Frankfurt looked back at March 2023, when he and head coach Julian Nagelsmann were released by the Munich team.

"It was certainly a brutally hard moment that felt totally wrong in terms of content," said Toppmöller. The decision of the Bayern officials caught him off guard: while Nagelsmann was on a skiing holiday, Toppmöller was still leading the training session at Säbener Straße.

"I was still on the training ground in the afternoon with Thomas Müller, with Sven Ulreich and with Bouna Sarr. In the evening, events then escalated. At some point, I read the news as a headline in Bild. It was like in a movie and I thought: 'Okay, where is the hidden camera?'", he recalled.

The 43-year-old could not understand at the time why the club took this step in the middle of a crucial season phase. "We were on our way to collecting three titles - we certainly believed we could win the championship and the cup, with Manchester City we had the toughest draw in the Champions League quarter-finals, but we could have made it." In the Bundesliga, Bayern was slightly behind Borussia Dortmund, but had a flawless record in the Champions League, including victories against Barcelona, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.

Toppmöller on departure from FC Bayern: "Devastated"

After the news became public, Toppmöller initially withdrew. "I turned off my phone because I just wanted some peace. When I turned it back on, I already had a call from the club who wanted to inform me - but that was definitely after the headline."

The separation deeply affected him: "Of course you are initially devastated because you had such a good relationship with many in the club. That we had to leave in the season phase, which is the most fun for everyone because it's about the titles, I still don't understand to this day. In the end, however, you have to accept it. It's also a moment that makes you grow as a person."

Photo: IMAGO

The decision was made because the Bayern bosses wanted to hire Thomas Tuchel, who was on the market shortly before. Tuchel did lead Munich to the championship, but overall fell short of high expectations. For Toppmöller, a new door opened quickly: Just a few months after leaving the record champions, he took over Eintracht Frankfurt and established himself as head coach. He views his time in Munich with some distance today - but the circumstances of his departure remain a chapter that felt "like in a movie" to him.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.