The championship is decided, the battle for relegation remains exciting. Now Mario Basler speaks and harshly criticizes a player from the German national team.
Bochum, Mainz and Cologne: in recent weeks everything seemed to be heading towards an exciting three-way battle in the race to remain in the league. But at least one other team you wouldn't have expected is still heavily involved in the relegation battle.
One thing seems certain after the 29th round: Darmstadt 98 has to play the 2nd. Bundesliga to plan. The difference with the Savings Bank is too big: the Hessians are twelve points from the relegation place.
Mario Basler does not understand the Wolfsburg transfer
Above the line, VfL Wolfsburg is now just two points out of 16th place. New coach Ralph Hasenhüttl has not yet managed to stabilize the Wolves. After a victory against Bremen, two defeats against Gladbach and in Leipzig followed.
“I'm not going to go to Leipzig and take the three points for granted, that's clear,” Hasenhüttl said after Saturday's 3-0 defeat. “But now we will play at home against Bochum, then we will go to Freiburg and then we will have Darmstadt at home. “These are games in which we absolutely have to get the points we need.”
Basler mocks Behrens: “He won't hit a barn door”
Former national player Mario Basler attributes Wolfsburg's needs to one person in particular and, as is often the case, does not mince words. “If they get relegated, it's their fault,” Basler analyzed in a new episode of the “Basler ballert” podcast: “Actually, they have the quality, but the most important question is who came up with the idea, Kevin Behrens. obligate.”
At the end of January, Behrens moved from Union Berlin, which is also still unsure with just one point ahead of Wolfsburg, to the Werksverein. The striker scored four goals in 18 Bundesliga games this season for the Iron Men, three of them directly on the first matchday against Mainz and the fourth on the second matchday against Darmstadt. Since then nothing much has happened.
Basler: “This is one of the greatest insolences in history”
At Wolfsburg he has so far scored one goal in nine games and has also set up a goal. A statistic that does not lead Basler to praise him, quite the opposite.
“It is one of the greatest insolences that a player like him is allowed to call himself a national player,” Basler fumed, “he doesn't crash into a barn door.”
Behrens had against him on October 18, 2023 at the age of 32. Mexico in it DFBThe shirt debuted, but was not called up again by national coach Julian Nagelsmann (36). In the previous season, the late player contributed to Union Berlin's qualification for the Champions League with eight goals. In 2021 he arrived in the capital from the then second division club SV Sandhausen.
VfL reportedly transferred around four million euros to Köpenicker's account for Behrens in the winter. Basler said he could not understand why Wolfsburg had paid a transfer fee for Behrens: “I don't know what you are thinking, who is the chief scout who recommended buying a Behrens like that. He is an average second division player who runs and works up, but he is not a clipper, he is not a forward who guarantees staying in the league.
Basler's harsh conclusion: “You can't be mad at me, but this is a player who would only sit on the bench of an ambitious second division team.”
By Antje Rehse