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| Thomas Tuchel the head coach / manager of Bayern Munich and Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich during the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between Manchester City and FC Bayern Munchen at Etihad Stadium on April 11, 2023 in Manchester, United Kingdom. |
Bayern
Munich’s Sadio Mane has fully accepted the consequences after his row with team
mate Leroy Sane boiled over following their defeat to Manchester City and the
case is now closed, coach Thomas Tuchel said on Friday.
Senegal
international Mane was fined and will miss Saturday’s Bundesliga game against
Hoffenheim as part of a one-match suspension after hitting Sane following
Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg 3-0 loss at City.
Sane
suffered a cut lip in the altercation and the two, who were also seen arguing
on the pitch late in the game, had to be separated by team mates.
“I am
the first one to defend Sadio. I have known him a long time and I know him as a
top pro,” Tuchel told a news conference. “He is football pure. He has
my deepest trust after the mistake he made.”“Everyone
can make a mistake. It went against the team’s code of conduct. That’s
clear.”
Mane, a two
times African footballer of the year who joined Bayern last year, had
complained about the way Germany winger Sane spoke to him after the defeat at
the Etihad Stadium.
They both
trained together on Thursday as Bayern look to find some stability after a
rocky few weeks that included last week’s shock German Cup exit at home to
Freiburg.
The
Bavarians are two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with seven games
remaining.
“It was
important that it was cleared quickly,” Tuchel, who took over from sacked
Julian Nagelsmann in late March, said.“That
had a cleansing effect. It was important that he remained in training even if
he has this one-match ban. Because we had to deal with it and it was an blatant
incident we had to clear it before the next training,” he said.“We did
it yesterday. We cleared the air so we can train in a positive way. We are not
the first and most likely not the last for it to happen to.”
Bayern face
City in the return leg on Wednesday.
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