Vincent Kompany has shown his class again as Bayern Munich coach, seeing things from Wolfsburg’s side when many won’t.
The Bundesliga champions won 1-0 against the unpopular relegation-threatened Wolfsburg on Saturday, but in the 36th minute, they were certain to go ahead early.
Michael Olise was fouled and up stepped Harry Kane to shoot from the spot.
Incredibly, though, he missed his first penalty for Bayern having scored 24 straight since signing from Tottenham.
Yet Kane may have had an excuse, as replays showed Wolfsburg’s Jeanuel Belocian tearing up the penalty spot before Kane took his shot.
Speaking post-match, pundits tried to get Kompany to criticise the gamesmanship, but he didn’t see much point.
“What do you expect them to do?” the Belgian said.
“Just applaud when we score a goal and say: That was a good play? Of course, you have to watch it, and maybe you can say or do something.
“But what are the Wolfsburg players supposed to do? Just get relegated without trying everything? That’s not possible.”
Also speaking post-match was Belocian’s teammate Patrick Wimmer who admitted: “These are obviously dirty tricks that you might have to use when you’re down there.”
Kompany, though, chose to see the moment as an opportunity to improve.
“If it had been against Paris on Wednesday, we would have already had two or three players at that penalty spot,” he said.
“Unfortunately, that’s the small detail that can make the difference in a game like this. You can never give anything away.”
One of his players, Tom Bischof, wasn’t so forgiving.
“I know Wolfsburg is fighting to stay in the Bundesliga. Nevertheless, I think it was an unnecessary action,” he said.
“You still show fair play, even when there’s a lot at stake.”
Eventually Olise found the net for a 1-0 win, leaving Wolfsburg in the promotion/relegation play-off spot, but joint on points with Heidenheim and St. Pauli with it all to play for on the final day.
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