The blow was well prepared. A few moments after Bayern Munich qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to their victory (2-0) over PSG on Wednesday evening, the Bavarian club’s American and Canadian Twitter account published a photo of the Munich captain Thomas Muller. But not just any: one where the 2014 German world champion poses all smiles in front of the Eiffel Tower, the absolute symbol of the French capital.
An obvious way to chamber Paris, eliminated for the second time in a row at the stage of the round of 16 of the competition. Especially since there is a “liability” between the supporters of PSG and Thomas Müller. In 2021, he had published after the draw for the quarters of the C1 which opposed Bayern to PSG a video where we saw him throw, in French, “goodbye” to the camera. A sequence perceived as the announcement of a certain elimination of PSG after the final won by Munich (1-0) in August 2020. After the Parisian qualification for the semi-finals, many Parisian supporters had republished the video to chamber Müller and the bavarian.
The sequence made such a round on social networks that the captain of Bayern gave his version of the thing two years later. “I understood with my French teammates that France had interpreted my message as: goodbye, you go out, he explained to Canal + on Tuesday. But my level of French is not good. I just wanted to say goodbye to the camera. But the interpretation was different. I’m always happy to face Paris, to play against France. I like the French. Maybe they don’t like me anymore. I will still do everything to win tomorrow. I’m not asking that they like me, just that they understand that I didn’t mean to make fun of me. »
After the draw for this round of 16, Thomas Müller had already split a new reaction by referring to the famous sequence. “Hello Paris, once again. Two great teams with great players. Unfortunately, one of them will not be able to go to the next round, he announced. This time, no goodbye. I have great respect for Paris, it will be a great duel. See you next year. »