Franz Beckenbauer dead: the weakness for Demichelis and the “differences” on the role he should play in Bayern Munich

Martin DemichelisRiver’s coach, sadly received the news of the death of Franz Beckenbauerthe German who was a glory of world football and who died this Sunday at the age of 78.

When the fact became known, the River coach was in the middle of the second pre-season training that Millonario’s team carries out in Florida. And at the end of the practice they told him.

Beckenbauer was a kind of godfather to him Micho in Germany. The world champion as a player and coach was the one who decided to hire the Argentine, given that when the Argentine arrived at Bayern Munich, in mid-2003, he was its president.

“Gewinnen, gewinnen, gewinnen” (win, win, win). With that word, repeated three times, it is said in Germany that Demichelis began to conquer Franz Beckenbauer.

More than 20 years have passed. And that was precisely the moment in which the current River coach was introduced to the German club, which paid almost 6 million dollars for his transfer.

The thing is Michowho had already been preparing for six months, when Bayern bought him (and left him for another semester at River) they promised him that he would start studying German to learn it as quickly as possible and facilitate communication with the coach and companions.

Beckenbauer, present at the official presentation of the team, was one of those who pushed the hardest to hire Demichelis. “Argentinians are the best in terms of character and morale”he had said previously.

AS, Demichelis became the first Argentine to play for Bayern Munich and established a strong bond with Beckenbauer, who gave him football advice for sharing the position.

Even in Argentina, before leaving, Micho had already been nicknamed “Franz”for his elegance in playing, a characteristic always praised by Beckenbauer.

Demichelis arrived at Bayern as a replacement Samuel Kuffourthat defender who scored the goal against Boca in the 2001 Intercontinental Cup final.

The story began in the last match of the 2002 Apertura when Karl Heinz Rummenigge the then vice-president of Bayern Munich traveled to Argentina and went to the Cilindro de Avellaneda to watch the classic Racing-River along with those remembered Jorge Cyterszpiler and Adrián De Vicente, who were the representatives of Demichelis.

In fact De Vicente was fundamental in the transition. He had played four years at Grasshopper, in Switzerland, with Ottmar Hitzfeld as coach, at the time coach of Bayern. And he told her about Micho.

There Rummenigge discovered it Micho and fell in love with that defender who, at the time, had only 35 games in Serie A and one goal. Then, Cyterszpiler traveled with the former German national team striker and with videos and details of Demichelis. Beckenbauer received them and immediately purchased them.

Beckenbauer, together with the entire structure of Bayern Munich, accompanied Demichelis’ growth in German football until he became a figure of the Bavarian team and the Bundesliga.

“Martín is excellent, an excellent athlete”, Beckenbauer said in an interview with El Grafico magazine ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Then, he praised Micho. “He is a great player, a great defender, who can also play in the center of the field. I like seeing him there more, in that position, because he is very good with creativity, so it would be useful to initiate attacking movements. And it is smart to choose “, squeeze.

And I add: “There aren’t many players like that in the world, so he can boost the attack if he plays centrally, but he wants to play defensively.”

Beckenbauer in turn confirmed that those words were said to the player himself. “I’m sure I’ll tell him, but he doesn’t want to, he prefers to play defense. Martín has a lot of character, that’s another characteristic I love about him”commented.

A few months later, Beckenbauer made a strange statement about Micho. ““He’s a very good player, but he doesn’t want to run.”assured the Kaiser.

Demichelis himself clarified the matter. “We met again several times after that sentence and the matches were wonderful. That problem came from my role. I always liked playing as a 5; in the youth team I played as a 5 and as a 5 I made my debut in River. At a certain point the reserve fell: “Many 5s, they moved me to central defender to have more options. I was doing well, Ramón asked me the same thing and I continued to play central defender. Bayern also bought me as a central defender.” central indicator,” said the former defender.

And he continued explaining: “When I arrived at Bayern, Hitzfeld put together the four central defenders and told us that one of them had to play as a 5 due to injuries and suspensions. I immediately offered myself and it went well. I played as a central midfielder in my first three years, between 2003 and 2006. “It was one of the best moments of my career. But Pekerman excluded me from the World Cup in 2006. After the crisis, I thought to my agent: ‘If it wasn’t now, I would never play for the national team again as a central midfielder.'”

In any case, Micho never held a grudge for that sentence. Quite the opposite. “The most important people I have met in football have always shown me greatness through their ways. Beckenbauer made the moment simple for me, he started talking about what was mine. A very simple person who seemed to have known me all my life”he assured of Beckenbauer, to whom he was united by great affection.