Featured Image Credit: FC Bayern Munich
Topics: Champions League, Bayern Munich, Vincent Kompany, Burnley, EFL Championship
Chris Nee
Topics: Champions League, Bayern Munich, Vincent Kompany, Burnley, EFL Championship
Vincent Kompany had a friendly disagreement with a reporter during his press conference on the eve of a possible Bundesliga title win.
Bayern Munich boss Kompany is on the cusp of delivering the club's 34th Bundesliga triumph in his first season in Germany.
The title would be secured if Bayern beat Mainz and defending champions Bayer Leverkusen fail to take all three points against Augsburg.
It would be a first league championship for England captain Harry Kane but not for Kompany, who has two Belgian titles and four Premier League wins with Manchester City to his name.
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Kompany's successes as a player aren't in question but the idea that the 2024-25 Bundesliga would be his first title as a manager is clearly one Kompany finds irksome.
At his press conference before the visit of Mainz on Saturday, a reporter asked a question about Kompany's maiden title.
He wasn't the first to make that mistake. He might well be the last.
"This is unbelievable," snapped Kompany in German.
"It's the second time this week someone tells me this will be my first title as a coach. I have already won it with Burnley."
The history books are on Kompany's side. The former Man City captain steered the Clarets to first place in the EFL Championship in 2022-23, continuing the promotion/relegation loop in which they've found themselves.
Sure enough, they were relegated the following season and have subsequently been promoted again, but there's no taking that title away from the Belgian.
The Championship title is as legitimate as it gets.
Since the Premier League breakaway in 1992, the winners of England's second tier are the champions of the Football League, the oldest football league in the world.
Burnley themselves won it as early as 1920-21, beating out Man City. So don't tell Kompany he hasn't won a title yet, even if he's probably not citing the long and winding history of league football in England.
"Yes, it was a promotion, but we were first in the table which means we won the title," said the former Clarets manager.
"But okay, then the parade in Burnley was for nothing."