Frank Schmidt doesn’t think Bayern’s Ibiza celebrations will affect how they perform against Hoffenheim this weekend.
Bayern Munich technically clinched the Bundesliga title in what’s been dubbed as “sofameister” fashion after Bayer Leverkusen failed to beat SC Freiburg on the same weekend Bayern drew RB Leipzig 3-3. Bayern was on the verge of clinching the title via their own action, but a late, late equalizer from Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen spoiled the party at the RedBull Arena and forced Bayern to wait 24 hours to officially start celebrating.
The Bayern squad officially celebrated the title at the Allianz Arena after their 2-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach in what was also a momentous occasion with it being the final match at “Dahoam” for Thomas Müller. After said win and celebrations, several members of the squad jetted off to Ibiza for two and a half days for some continued celebrations after the short trip had been delayed by a week. The trip was not taken well by Mainz sporting director Christian Heidl and BILD expert Marcel Reif, who both felt a certain level of disrespect was shown to the rest of the league with Bayern’s players going off on a mini-celebration trip.
Despite the Bundesliga relegation ramifications that Bayern’s final Bundesliga match of the season has against TSG Hoffenheim, Heidenheim manager Frank Schmidt is okay with the sentiment of several of Bayern’s players having gone away for a few days. “I’m completely relaxed about that. What we can influence is our performance, our result against Werder Bremen. After that if we win, we’ll see what happens in Hoffenheim. The focus is already so big on Bayern. This is FC Bayern, they’ve never given anything away. They won’t give anything away. They’ll give their best performance, just as we have to do,” Schmidt explained, giving credit to Bayern’s professionalism (Sport.de via @iMiaSanMia).
In the Bundesliga table, Heidenheim are currently in 16th place; the relegation playoff spot, while Hoffenheim is right above them in 15th place — just three points ahead of them to be precise. If Bayern takes care of Hoffenheim by a considerable margin and Heidenheim beats Werder Bremen on the final match day, with a significant goal difference swing, there’s a chance Heidenheim could leapfrog Hoffenheim out of the relegation zone, which is why there was some criticism for some of Bayern’s stars having the trip to Ibiza, giving off the impression that they’re already in holiday mode ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup preparations.
Regardless of the Bundesliga relegation ramifications this weekend, Bayern will have motivation of their own. They can’t finish any higher than 82 points, but if they are able to score five goals, they’ll have reached a century of goals for the season and would also better their points tally from the past four seasons, equaling their tally of 82 points from the famous Sextuple season of 2019/20 under (mostly) Hansi Flick.
