Bayern Munich have banned both the Mirror and the Sun from attending any press conferences for the Champions League return leg against Manchester United next week.
It comes as a response to both papers running what Bayern called ‘disrespectful , discriminatory and personally insulting’ headlines following Schweinsteiger’s red card at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening. The Sun ran with ‘You Schwein!’ and the Mirror had ‘You Dirty Schwein’ as both papers having a pop at the German international following his equalizing goal and subsequent red card late in the game for his foul on Wayne Rooney.
Pep Guardiola was not pleased with the line of questioning from an English journalist in the post-match conference and got very irritated with him so it appears that the whole club has been angered by the British media at this stage.
They have vindicated their decision to ban both papers as a way of adhering to UEFA’s campaign of ‘Respect’. Bayern themselves have had to close a section in the Allianz Arena for the second leg following offensive banners on display aimed at Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil. UEFA have ordered the section to be kept closed as it conflicted with this ‘Respect’ campaign.
Bayern released a statement which said: “Due to breaching this agreement when four attendees at our game with Arsenal showed a disrespectful banner in the Allianz Arena, 700 fans will now be locked out (for the United game) and we were fined €10,000. We have accepted this. (Therefore) representatives of ‘The Daily Mirror’ and ‘The Sun’ will not be granted media accreditation at the Allianz Arena for the Manchester United match.”
