Pep Guardiola's week goes from bad to worse as veteran Bayern Munich doctor quits after being blamed for Porto defeat
Bayern's Champions League hopes hang by a thread following the 3-1 first-leg loss, but Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt has unexpectedly left in the wake of the defeat
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola is having a rough time of it this week, and that’s not just due to the shock Champions League defeat to Porto on Wednesday. The Bayern Munich manager finds himself continually linked with a move to Manchester City, a number of key players missing through injury, and now his club doctor has walked out on him after being criticised by the manager.
Guardiola bemoaned the club’s current injury list after suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Portuguese side this week, blaming the medical department for the loss. What he won’t have expected though is four members of the staff, including 40-year veteran doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt.
Müller-Wohlfahrt claimed in a statement that the medical department had been blamed for the first-leg defeat that puts the 2012-13 champions up against it to reach the quarter-finals.
The statement read: “After the Champions League match of Bayern Munich against Porto the medical department was for some inexplicable reason made primarily responsible. The bond of trust is damaged.”
Müller-Wohlfahrt’s son Kilian has also left the club, along with Peter Ueblacker Lutz Hansel, after Guardiola was left with just 14 players for the match against Porto. It’s claimed that Müller-Wohlfahrt and Guardiola have clashed several times in the past, including over the fitness of Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
“We have players who were out a long time with injuries,” Guardiola said after the midweek defeat. “Their legs don't last very long. It's a tough result to take into the second leg, but we'll give it a go.”
Both Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben were missing on Wednesday, while Mehdi Benatia, Javi Martinez and David Alaba were also notable absentees through injury. Holger Badstuber and Bastian Schweinsteiger have also struggled with long-term issues this season.
Tensions were visible during last week’s goalless draw with Bayer Leverkusen, where Guardiola appeared to sarcastically applaud the medical team when Benatia was forced off through injury.
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Bayern’s media director Markus Horwick confirmed that the resignations had not been expected and the club had been taken by surprise by the decision. Horwick said: “We have no knowledge of this release, so we cannot comment.”
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