Goretzka cites FCA pitch as one reason for Bayern's “unattractive football”

Among the excuses Leon Goretzka listed for another narrow Bayern league victory today was the state of the FC Augsburg pitch at the WWK Arena. 

German giants FC Bayern München have already followed up their shock 0-1 loss to SV Werder Bremen six days ago with a maximum six points from two league fixtures. Two narrow victories (1-0 against FC Union Berlin on Wednesday and 3-2 away at Augsburg today – nevertheless don’t necessarily have the usual Bayern feel about them. The now 11-times defending champions maintain a fragile feel about them.

Speaking to the Sky mics after today’s win, Bayern and German national team midfielder Leon Goretzka found himself under pressure to explain why. The  28-year-old began with the fact that three injuries incurred in the Wednesday victory left the team in unfamiliar territory. Goretzka himself had to work alongside Aleksandr Pavlovic, deputizing for the injured Joshua Kimmich.

Raphaël Guerreiro (at right back) and Eric Dier had to start in place of Konrad Laimer and Dayot Upamecano. Goretzka – while also crediting Augsburg for playing the type of football that that can prove challenging for talented sides like Bayern and title-competitors Leverkusen – spoke of “bad omens” heading into the match. He also didn’t have the kindest words for the groundskeeping work of his hosts.

“We’ve had a lot of shit news with injuries,” Goretzka told his interviewer, “We had a back-four that never played together before. Augsburg are also a quality physical side who play a lot of long balls. It’s tough then.”

“But we now what to expect here,” Goretzka nevertheless continued, “Simply incredibly unattractive football in my opinion. You can’t call this a playing pitch. They tried to sow something. We want to play attractive football, but that’s not possible here.”

“I’ll gladly answer to the shitstorm,” the FCB midfielder concluded, “It’s quite honestly technically impossible to play attractive football on a pitch like this.”

More about the match

More about the teams