INTERVIEWS Jean-Marie Pfaff is in Munich this week for the Champions League match between Bayern and Union. The former goalkeeper sees a Bayern team that is impressing under the leadership of Vincent Kompany. “They are a well-oiled machine,” he says. “They keep going until the final whistle.”
Pfaff is full of praise for Kompany. "When people asked me for my opinion at the time, I was always positive. I said he would grow into a strong coach. You can see that now. At Bayern, the club and the coach work perfectly together. Vincent knows what he's talking about, you can have a dialogue with him. He's approachable, intelligent, and he hasn't forgotten his roots. I've always supported him."
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Continue reading The fact that Anderlecht let Kompany leave in the summer of 2022 remains a sore point for Pfaff. Under his leadership, the Purple & White finished third in the league, but he still had to make way. “Anderlecht is a club with charisma, but if you push someone like that aside, you don't understand football. A figure like Kompany returning to your club is comparable to Romelu Lukaku, whom they are now trying to bring back.”
According to Pfaff, the foundation had been laid. “Three years of good work had been done. The basis was there. And then suddenly someone decides he has to leave. That's incomprehensible. With all due respect to the coaches who followed, Anderlecht made a serious misjudgment there. You can never get someone like that back.”