FC Bayern’s DFB-Pokal final win over VfB Stuttgart should have been a night for the full party, but Konrad Laimer spent the first stretch of the celebration elsewhere. The 28-year-old said he was back in the dressing room for only “höchstens zwei Sekunden” before being sent to doping control, which kept him out of the team’s immediate title moment after the 3-0 victory.
That is why Laimer is being searched now: Bayern had just completed the double, and one player’s post-match routine turned into an odd footnote to the club’s biggest night of the season. Two hours after the final whistle, the rest of the squad moved through the interview area and on to the team bus without broad smiles, a quieter scene than the pitch-side celebration that had come only moments earlier. Laimer, meanwhile, was still in doping control and missed the mood shift entirely.
Laimer did not sound bothered by the detour. “Das Spiel war toll,” he said, adding that “Man muss ja auch jeden Titel und jede Saison feiern.” He also made clear how much the season’s work had meant: “Dafür arbeiten wir, deshalb stehen wir jeden Tag auf.” Bayern’s title win mattered because it completed the club’s double season, and the on-pitch celebration after the final was the public face of that achievement.
The strange part is that the celebration never really had the chance to breathe. Bayern players had already been applauding a title on the field, yet by the time they passed through the interview area later, the atmosphere had flattened. Laimer was the only one who did not even notice, because he was still being tested — an abrupt reminder that football’s biggest nights can be interrupted by the smallest procedural demands.
There is also a bigger question hanging over the Austria international’s future at Bayern, and Laimer does not sound weighed down by it. Negotiations are under way, but his tone stayed light as he looked ahead: “Schauen wir mal, wohin die Reise geht,” he said, before adding, “Im Fußball geht es so schnell.” For now, the title winner is celebrating, the contract talks are still open, and Laimer’s next move at Bayern remains unresolved.
