Friends of the blog know that here at Bavarian Football Works, we are all about advancing the Bundesliga agenda. That goes part and parcel with promoting Bayern Munich: after all, stronger league, stronger club.
But former Eintracht Frankfurt coach Albert Riera is not going along with it.
“To be honest, the level of the Bundesliga was somewhat disappointing,” Riera said for Sportklub Slovenija, as captured via Bild by @iMiaSanMia. “Bayern Munich are of course in a league of their own and cannot be reached.
Borussia Dortmund can keep up reasonably well with their budget. Then there are surprises like [VfB] Stuttgart, but the rest was disappointing for me.”
Riera went on to compare his experience in Germany with his experience in Slovenia, where he managed top club Celje across two stints since 2023, as well as Olimpija Ljubljana before that.
“The teams in the bottom third of the table all play exactly the same way. When you analyze them, you get the feeling you’re playing against the same opponent every week. If you look at the sums of money spent in Germany – 20, 30, even 40 million euros – compared to the amounts in the Slovenian league, it’s not a different world at all. That’s reality. If Celje were to play against Frankfurt, they could hold their own. I’m not saying they’re better, but they can compete. The difference is smaller than it appears from the outside.”
Eintracht Frankfurt trudged its way to an 8th place finish in the Bundesliga last season while navigating a Champions League campaign. Former Bayern assistant Dino Toppmöller would find himself sacked as head coach in January, with Riera signing on as the permanent replacement in February.
He would only last until the end of the season, and has not minced words since about why it all went wrong.
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