Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has explained what led to the clash between Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane.
After Bayern Munich’s Champions League quarterfinal first-leg loss to Premier League Champions Manchester City, reports emerged that Sadio Mane engaged his Bayern Munich teammate and former Manchester City player Leroy Sane in a heated fight.
Mane accused Sane of disrespectful remarks and assaulted the player in Bayern Munich dressing room.
The feud between the two players started live in the game against Manchester City, but Mane held himself before letting out his fury inside the dressing room.
He punched Sane on the lips, engaging him in a bitter duel before they were separated by other players in the dressing room.
After the incident, Sadio Mane was slammed with a fine and one-match ban. He was axed off Bayern Munich’s squad that faced Hoffenheim.
The Senegal international is back to Bayern Munich squad after serving his ban. He started from the bench in the Champions League quarterfinal return leg against City at Allianz Arena.
Mane replaced Sane in the game and it appears the duo have gotten on well after the bizarre incident.
However, there are still speculations on what actually led to the faceoff between the two players.
Sadio Mane himself was reportedly unfazed by Sane’s uncouth remarks but some pundits have claimed the clash must have been rooted in Mane’s struggles at Bayern Munich since joining the club from Liverpool.
Now, according to Arsene Wenger, Sadio Mane’s clash with Leroy Sane was due to an issue that sprang up in the Bayern Munich camp.
The former Arsenal boss put it straight that there is an issue in the Bayern Munich dressing room that the club officials have not addressed which spilled out into the scuffle between the two players.
Speaking on beIN SPORTS, Arsene Wenger said;
“There is a rift in the team and the management inside the club has to sort it out. The only way to sort this problem out is communication. You have to create the trust and the communication inside the dressing room. Most of the time when you have this problem with two players, you take them into the office and you explain to them that ‘we cannot be successful if the players inside the team do not cooperate well together’.”
Wenger’s assertion seems to point accusing fingers on a lax and inefficient dressing room management by the club with Thomas Tuchel’s professionalism on the line.
With stints at some of the biggest clubs in Europe – PSG and Chelsea – Thomas Tuchel was expected to spot such dressing room cracks and arrest the situation immediately before it boiled out of control.
Addressing the faceoff between the two players, Thomas Tuchel hailed Sadio Mane’s professionalism and supported the punishment meted out to the former Liverpool star but anticipated his immediate return to action for the club.
Under Tuchel, Bayern Munich seem to have lost their gear after sacking Julian Nagelsmann.
Their triple-chasing campaign has now crashed after Mainz and Manchester City eliminated them from the German DFK-Pokal and Champions League respectively.
The Bavarians now has only the Bundesliga title to contend for and Tuchel has only managed two wins in his first six games as Bayern Munich manager.
The Mane-Sane bust-up was another low in Bayern Munich’s mangled image and dwindling form under Tuchel.
