Bayern Munich coach, the leader of the German Football League, Thomas Tuchel, confirmed, on Friday, that he is the “first lawyer and first defender” of his Senegalese international striker Sadio Mane, the day after he was punished by the club’s management by stopping him for one match, following an argument with his colleague Leroy Sane in the dressing rooms.
Tuchel said on the eve of hosting Hoffenheim in the twenty-eighth stage of the league: Sadio, I am his first lawyer and his first defender. I have known him for a long time, and I know his surroundings. Knowing him exclusively as a great professional, I’ve never, ever, ever seen anything we could blame him for.
The conversation between Mane and Sani intensified in the dressing room after the match against Manchester City ended last Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, where the Bavarian club lost 3-0.
The best player in Africa in 2022 criticized the way Sani spoke to him at the end of the match, and German newspapers reported that the Senegalese, who participated in the 69th minute, punched Sani in the face, so he asked blood from his lip.
The Bavarian club issued a statement on Thursday, confirming that Mane had been suspended from the match against Hoffenheim on Saturday “due to misconduct,” and the Bild newspaper reported that he had been fined about half a million euros.
Tuchel said: He has my full confidence, he had it before, and he also has it after this mistake he made. Everyone has the right to make a mistake.
The coach, who assumed his duties three weeks ago, succeeding Julian Nagelsmann, who was dismissed from his post, added: It was too much emotion, contrary to the rules of conduct within the team and FC Bayern Munich. There have been quite credible apologies, and there is no reason to doubt that.
Tuchel stressed that the atmosphere is good inside the Bavarian club, and he said, “I think it looks more turbulent from the outside than it is internally, even in this case,” referring to the argument between Mane and Sani.
