MUNICH, GERMANY:
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany and RB Leipzig counterpart Marco Rose struggled to discuss Bayern’s 5-1 Bundesliga victory on Friday after two people were killed when a car drove into crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.
At least 60 people were injured in the incident, said Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Magdeburg is the capital.
“It’s almost impossible to talk about football tonight. Right now the people in Magdeburg are in our thoughts,” Kompany said. “Hopefully, at some point there will be peace, not only in Germany but everywhere. We won today, but I hope next year there will be more wins for peace.”
Haseloff said one of the dead was a young child. “I’ve heard the news from Magdeburg, it makes all things appear in a different light,” Rose said.
“Yes, we played football. Yes, we lost clearly and deservedly. Benjamin Henrichs may have a serious ankle injury, but a few other things happened today that aren’t nice.”
The game had an extraordinary start when Jamal Musiala put Bayern ahead after 28 seconds, only for Benjamin Sesco to equalise just over a minute later.
Bayern, however, dominated after that, leading 3-1 at halftime through Konrad Laimar and Joshua Kimmich, before Leroy Sane and Alphonso Davies completed the rout to send them seven points clear at the top of the table. “We played a very good game,” said Kimmich, whose goal was a superb 25-yard shot. “We had a great start and despite the quick equaliser, everyone saw that we were determined to win today. The players felt that the Mainz game (Bayern’s first defeat of the season last week) was our worst performance. Things were completely different today.”
Minute’s silence in Bundesliga for Magdeburg victims
First and second division football matches in Germany will kick off this weekend with a minute’s silence in tribute to the victims of the attack in Magdeburg, the German Football League (DFL) announced in a statement.
Five people were killed and more than 200 injured when a man rammed a car into a crowded Christmas market on Friday evening.
“German professional football is shocked by the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg,” the DFL wrote in a statement.
“The DFL recommends wearing a black armband of mourning for this weekend’s Bundesliga and second division… and supports a minute of silence in tribute to the victims.”
In addition, the German handball league has postponed the Bundesliga home match between Magdeburg and Eisenach, originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Police arrested a 50-year-old Saudi doctor of psychiatry at the scene, next to the battered SUV that had ploughed through the festive crowd.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the site on Saturday and called for unity while condemning the “terrible catastrophe”.
Germany Christmas market attack suspect considered ‘Islamophobic’: minister
The Saudi suspect arrested at the scene of Germany’s deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market is considered to hold “Islamophobic” views, the interior minister said Saturday.
The minister, Nancy Faeser, said that while she did not want to speculate about the motive, “the one thing” she could confirm was that he had expressed an “Islamophobic” stance. REUTERS/AFP