Hansi Flick has brought two members of his future coaching staff from Germany: Toni Tapalovic and Marcus Sorg. He knows the first one from his time at Bayern Munich. When he arrived, ‘Tapa’ was already a veteran. He landed in Bavaria when he was barely 32 years old and without experience in the elite, after having worked as a goalkeeping coach in Schalke’s youth football team.. He forged a great relationship with Manuel Neuer until he became his best friend. Although that, they say from Germany, cost him his dismissal.
Tapalovic, who coincided with Neuer at Schalke, becomes part of a coaching staff that will also include José Ramón de la Fuente, the current goalkeeping coach, who has all the trust in the world of Ter Stegen. ‘Dela’ arrived at Barcelona in 2012, during the last years of Víctor Valdés. Flick will find himself in the curious situation of having two experts in goalkeeping preparation. It is not an isolated case, but it is unusual. Tapalovic arrives to be part of the staff, not to focus solely on the goal.
‘Tapa’ convinced Jupp Heynckes to join his staff after a talk at his home in which he explained his work philosophy. “He made a great impression on me, professionally and personally. I was very interested in his ideas”, the coach acknowledged some time later. More than eleven years later, Toni’s time at Bayern ended abruptly. According to ‘Bild’, because ‘Tapa’ leaked private staff conversations, then headed by Nagelsmann, to his friend Neuer. A civil war began in Bayern.
Neuer was left alone
“A single look is enough for us to understand each other,” Tapalovic once said. “I am the goalkeeper I am thanks to Toni. He is a great person. He has played a very important role in my development”Neuer commented. They never hid their good relationship. The coach’s dismissal came after the goalkeeper was injured skiing after the World Cup in Qatar. He fractured his tibia. “I was on the ground and they hit me again. I felt like my heart was removed“, Neuer commented in an interview with TheAthletic. According to Nagelsmann, a good feeling was never generated.
In the conversation, Neuer assured that the leaks never occurred. He defended and valued the figure of Tapalovic during several questions. “We have always known how to separate work from private life. I know it may sound like I’m not being objective, but I really know how to differentiate it […] It is the most brutal thing I have experienced in my career. And I have lived a lot“, he noted. When asked if he took the dismissal as a message, he responded that many things crossed his mind, “also about my future,” but that the club denied it. The words bothered the fans a lot. above. Salihamidzic said that Neuer put “his personal interests above those of the club” and that, as captain that he is, he would have expected “another attitude.”
During the ‘Tapa’ period in Munich, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Flick were on the bench. With goalkeepers it was common for him to do several video sessions to improve technique. “With Manu only for a few minor details, there is more to explain to the young people”, he detailed himself. At 38 years old, after Toni’s departure and Yan Sommer trying to take over ownership of him, Neuer remains indisputable. It has been with Thomas Tuchel directing.
This season, Ter Stegen and the rest of the goalkeepers will have two specialist trainers behind the sticks. Curiously, one of them will be Tapa, the best friend of Marc-André’s competition in the national team.. He has been working closely with ‘Dela’ for years and those who know him believe that the coach would be capable of leaving with Ter Stegen if he one day decides to close his Blaugrana chapter. Barça 24-25 will experience an unusual situation that, for example, occurred in Klopp’s Liverpool, where John Achterberg and Claudio Taffarel shared the position for three years. ‘Tapa’, however, will do so as an all-terrain assistant.
