"For once, I was briefly at the point where I believed them"

The separation of FC Bayern from coach Julian Nagelsmann also came as a surprise to former national team captain Michael Ballack. The 46-year-old was a guest of the podcast "Einfach mal Luppen" by the two Kroos brothers Toni and Felix. After about twenty minutes, the three of them came to talk about the coaching quake at Bayern and Nagelsmann's unexpected dismissal at the weekend. Toni Kroos asks Ballack: "How much did that surprise you?"

He replied that he was "surprised, like everyone else, because the time or at least the sporting situation didn't necessarily make it right now". However, Ballack qualified, one must “separate it”: “Those responsible are professional and responsible enough not to make such a decision on instinct. I think you have thought about that. There were reasons that we do not all know and that are certainly not all communicated.”

But he also said: "Such a coaching dismissal at such a level is certainly surprising if it is not provoked by sport. And I don't think she was. Not even because of the defeat in Leverkusen (1:2, the Radcation). In any case, it came as a surprise to me.”

Toni Kroos saw it similarly. However, the Real Madrid midfielder admitted "to be a long way from being able to judge that in the sense". "You don't get most of it anyway," says Kroos.

However, his view of what was happening at Bayern Munich in recent weeks was a little more differentiated than Ballack's. "If they think sporty, then that's the way it is," said Kroos: "But for once I was briefly at the point that I believed them. You gave him so much support, even a week before. That was unusual. They really stood behind it. Up until the Monday before, the absolute long-term project had been manifested by the president (Herbert Hainer, the editors) himself. More than ever. Well, I even believed it for a moment. I don't know about you."

Ballack projected that onto himself a little, recalling his quite cold-hearted separation from the national team when he was injured for the 2010 World Cup after a rude foul by Kevin-Prince Boateng in the English Cup final, then first lost his captaincy to Philipp Lahm and finally was ignored by national coach Joachim Löw from then on.

"I'm a burnt child when it comes to human treatment," Ballack said when asked about Kroos' question: "If you say, 'It's human in football', you always have to be a bit careful. First harmony, success, but then also failure and a treatment that you don't want - it's a professional business, they all earn very good money. There is a very high standard there, an extremely high one. It is not for nothing that Bavaria has been at this level, this status quo, for decades. Of course, you can only achieve this if you constantly question yourself. Jupp Heynckes was once dismissed as a Champions League winner at Real Madrid. That was also brutal and incomprehensible. Now, Julian hasn't won the Champions League yet, but he wasn't on a bad path. But you have to have confidence in the decisions of those responsible.”

FC Bayern parted ways with Nagelsmann on Friday and signed Thomas Tuchel as his successor. The 49-year-old will play his first game next Saturday against his former club and Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund (6.30 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker).