Emotional farewell for Schweinsteiger

It was a fitting stage for one of the greatest players in the history of FC Bayern München. Bastian Schweinsteiger stood alone in the centre circle at the Allianz Arena after his testimonial and looked at the huge video screen to see the messages from many of his companions, teammates, coaches and friends. “I’m one of you and I will always be one of you,” declared Schweinsteiger. In response, chants of “Fußballgott, Fußballgott!” (football god) rang around the stadium before the Bayern legend set off on his lap of honour.

75,000 fans had flocked to the Allianz Arena to be there at Schweinsteiger’s farewell match between his boyhood club FC Bayern and his current side Chicago Fire. It was a great evening of football for everyone with plenty of chances at both ends and the odd bit of magic. Serge Gnabry (7’), Sandro Wagner (38’), Arjen Robben (63’) and the man himself, Bastian Schweinsteiger (84’) scored the goals in a 4-0 win for the Reds. No one could steal the show from him anyway. Bayern’s long-serving number 31, who played for the MLS club in the first half and then donned the record German champions’ jersey once again in the second period, was of course everyone’s man of the match.

The two teams, who were pretty much at full strength, were waiting on the pitch as the man of the hour made his first grand entrance. The lights in the Allianz Arena were turned off and the spotlight pointed at Schweinsteiger, who walked down the steps of the main stand onto the pitch, where the numerous trophies that he won in Bayern colours had been set up. It required almost two dozen helpers to carry the impressive trophy collection onto the field.        

The footballing quality that helped him along this great career was in evidence in the first half. The 2013 treble winner was the central man in a back five for Chicago and directed play for the Americans with clever passing. The 34-year-old hasn’t forgotten how to defend, as he showed around the quarter-hour mark with an impressive and fair tackle on Leon Goretzka.

Schweinsteiger changed sides at half-time and felt at home straight away. The south stand welcomed their hero with a display and the words “Thank you Basi”, while his teammates also gave their former star a special welcome and all wore shirts with Schweinsteiger’s number 31 on the back. It was as if he’d never been away as the 2014 World Cup winner pulled the strings in midfield and constantly received the ball from his colleagues, who wanted to set him up to score. In the 84^th minute it came off when Schweinsteiger got on the end of a cross from David Alaba in the penalty area and flicked the ball into the top-right corner.