Vincent Kompany and Julian Schuster clash over 11 minutes of extra time in dramatic Bayern Munich Bundesliga victory | OneFootball

Bayern Munich’s dramatic 2-3 come-from-behind Bundesliga victory over Freiburg on Saturday afternoon produced a controversial talking point. Namely, the fact that 11 full minutes of extra time added at the end of the second half. Freiburg entered injury time up 2-1. Vincent Kompany’s FCB scored two goals in the initially announced eight minutes of extra time. Match official Daniel Siebert ended up doling out yellow cars to complaining Freiburg players and coaches afterwards. 

At the post-match press conference, the two coaches naturally had very different opinions on the matter. Bayern’s Vincent Kompany – answering several questions before Freiburg’s Julian Schuster was allowed to give his opening statement due to scheduling conflicts – provided his opinion on the matter first before exiting the press conference early. 

Vincent Kompany defends the extra time allowance

“It could have been longer,” Kompany said in direct response to a question about the added extra time. “But I have my theories about it. That’s probably the big point on which Julian and I beg to differ today. I was a little frustrated [by Freiburg’s attempts to run out the clock], though I would have done the same thing if I were in that situation.

“We need to keep the game running, and one loses 15, 20, 30 seconds every time players stall or engage the referee,” Kompany continued. “Whatever the opponent does to try and take those three points, that’s fine. We still need to do everything to keep the game going. That’s the reason I felt the extra time wasn’t exaggerated.

“We could have conceded a goal in extra time too,” Kompany concluded. “Then these eight minutes wouldn’t have been considered false.“

After a reporter asked Kompany a question (about Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka) that Kompany admitted he didn’t understand, the FCB head coach made certain to give his counterpart a sportsmanlike hug before departing the premises. Schuster initially tried to dance around the issue in his opening statement.

Julian Schuster responds

“We did all we could against a team of Bayern’s quality,” Schuster noted in his opening statement. “Atu [Noah Atubolu] made some magnificent saves. There’s not much to criticize when it comes to our performance. It’s a tough one for us. It hurts. At least we have an extra day off and can build on this ahead of the coming [Europa League] challenge [on Thursday].”

“I couldn’t comprehend the extra eight minutes,” Schuster noted in response to his first question. “Maybe there were some reasons to tack on extra time, but not much. And then, within these eight minutes, there wasn’t much. There was one goal [Tom Bischof at 90+2]. If there had been an excessive celebration, the time could have been extended more.

“But that didn’t happen and I think that it would have been perfectly acceptable to call it a day after eight minutes [Lennart Karl scored at 90+9],” Schuster continued. “But I think it would be pointless to discuss this further. Don’t get me started. We can accept some responsibility for not defending well enough on the third goal and that’s more important moving forward.“

GGFN | Peter Weis