Euro game in the stands |
Baumgart: “My heart is bleeding!”
Right in the middle – but somehow not really there! That hurts damn…
It’s similar Stephen Baumgart (50) before Cologne’s first group game in the Conference League tomorrow (6.45 p.m. / RTL +) in Nice. The Cologne coach is only allowed to follow the 90 minutes from the stands because he last saw the yellow-red card shortly before the end of the play-off game in Hungary (3-0 against Fehervar) (BILD reported).
Baumgart says quite frankly: “Everyone can imagine what’s going on inside me. It is incomprehensible to me that I should be punished again. I was already punished with being sent off in Hungary. You can bet my heart is bleeding. I’ve been working towards it for a long time – and now I can watch the game from above…”
Baumgart follows up with a criticism of dismissals for coaches, saying: “I have a problem with bans for coaches. I saw that again yesterday in the Champions League. Yellow cards were waved relatively quickly. I would recommend everyone to have a chat with an emotional coach once in a while. I think it’s sad.”
Does the coach want to influence the game from the stands with whistles and his loud voice?
Baumgart: “I don’t expect to be calm and in control. But I won’t give any tactical instructions from above, we have our guys down on the bench for that. I won’t have a phone with me either – so that nobody gets the idea that I’m still texting…” Baumgart is represented on the sidelines by assistant coach Andre Pawlak (51).
How does Baumgart rate Nice?
“The team is strong on an individual basis, but is lagging behind its expectations in the league. We expect an aggressive team. Everyone knows that Nice is of high quality,” says the Cologne coach.