Sadio Mane reportedly had an explosive row with Julian Nagelsmann in front of the entire Bayern Munich dressing room shortly before the German boss was axed by the club.
The Senegal captain – who joined the reigning Bundesliga champions in a £35 million switch from Liverpool last summer – impressed during his first few months with his new side, scoring 12 goals by November.
However, Mane then picked up a knee injury against Werder Bremen that would rule him out for more than three months, costing him the chance to lead his country at the 2022 World Cup.
After returning from that setback, the 30-year-old winger is said to have cut an increasingly frustrated figure at the Allianz Arena.
Used largely as a substitute since making his comeback, Mane’s relationship with Nagelsmann suffered as a result.
Mane’s angry dressing room rant at Nagelsmann after Champions League win
It has now emerged that tensions between the pair boiled over in a huge bust-up after Bayern’s 2-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the second-leg of their last-16 Champions League tie earlier this month.
Although the Bavarian side cruised through to the quarter-finals in fine style, Mane was unhappy about only being introduced from the bench with eight minutes of normal time remaining – and he let Nagelsmann know it.
Per German tabloid Bild, via The Mirror, a raging Mane believed that he was fully fit to take part and ‘furiously complained at Nagelsmann for not bringing him on earlier in the win’, while his fellow players and staff looked on.
According to one source who was present at the time, Nagelsmann appeared ‘intimidated’ after the exchange.
The report contrasts wildly with Mane’s humble public persona and perhaps shows the level of division within the Bayern dressing room under the 35-year-old head coach.
When Nagelsmann was sacked by Bayern a little over two weeks after the incident with Mane, reports immediately began to surface of a split within the camp, with Manuel Neuer and Serge Gnabry among those who were pleased to see a change in the club’s dugout.
It’s not known whether Mane’s public spat with Nagelsmann played a role in his departure, although it has to be said that it can’t have helped.
Will Mane feature under Thomas Tuchel at Bayern?
Mane must now look to get his Bayern career back on track under new boss Thomas Tuchel. That could be easier said than done, given the serious amount of competition in the squad for the wide positions.
In addition to Mane, Tuchel has the luxury of being able to call on the likes of Gnabry, Leroy Sane, Thomas Muller and Jamal Musiala in a similar role.
With concerns having recently been expressed over whether Mane is quite the same player that he was at Liverpool, he may find it tough to regain his place in a Bayern line-up packed full of superstars.
