The German believes the Spaniard has some explaining to do after denying Arjen Robben the chance to take a penalty in favour of Thomas Muller
Stefan Effenberg has hit out at Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola following his decision to deny Arjen Robben the opportunity to take a penalty in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Mainz and hand the ball to Thomas Muller instead.
The Dutchman was ready to step up for his second goal of the afternoon after a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger, only for Guardiola to get involved on the sidelines and tell Muller to take the spot kick, and the former Germany international feels the Spanish coach has some explaining to do.
“You don’t want to go through something like this in front of 80,000 people,” Effenberg told Sky.
“You have the ball in your hands and are ready to take a spot kick, full of confidence, and then your coach steps up like a schoolteacher telling you to give it to Muller.
“That’s very bitter for any player and a bad situation to be in.
“You have to explain these kinds of decisions as a coach. You’re obliged to do that. You cannot just say: ‘I’m the coach and I make the decisions.'”
Muller converted the spot kick to make it 4-1 and effectively put the match to bed.