Bayern Munich have launched a broadside towards Joachim Low after the Germany coach prematurely ended the international careers of three of their stars.
The Bavarian giants are incensed at the timing of Low’s decision to axe Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller from future International selection on the eve of their Champions League round-of-16 second leg clash against Liverpool.
Low made the decision, which was backed by DFB president Reinhard Grindel, in an effort to turn around the nation’s fortunes after an abysmal World Cup and UEFA Nations League campaign.
Boateng, Hummels and Muller were all members of the 2014 World Cup winning squad and are still in the prime years of their respected careers, with no player over the age of 30, but Low has decided to head in a new direction.
In retaliation, Bayern have now hit back for the manner in which the decision came about, coming as the club are preparing to face Liverpool in the Champions League, with the score level at 0-0 from the first leg.
In a statement, Bayern said: “National coach Joachim Low has decided not to consider our players Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng in the future.
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“Basically, we do not comment on sporting decisions of the national coach, the nomination of the squad of the national team is solely the responsibility of Joachim Low.
“However, we believe the timing and circumstances of the announcement of this decision to the players and to the public is questionable. The last international match of the German national team took place on 19 November 2018.
“The fact that the players and the public were informed three months later, just ahead of important matches for FC Bayern next Saturday in the fight for the Bundesliga title against VfL Wolfsburg and a few days before the decisive second leg in the round of 16 of the Champions League next Wednesday against Liverpool, irritates us.
“In addition, we were surprised that this was done yesterday in the context of an unannounced visit by Joachim Low and Oliver Bierhoff (Director National Teams and Academy) at Bayern.
“Muller (100 caps), Hummels (70) and Boateng (76) have completed 246 internationals for the German national team, they have had an extremely successful decade of the DFB crowned by winning the world title in 2014 as an absolute highlight.
“FC Bayern have great respect for the athletic merits of Thomas, Mats and Jerome for the national team and German football.”