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Row at the press conference as Bundesliga coach completely loses his cool
Actually, Gladbach’s coach Eugen Polanski had no reason to be upset after his team’s victory at FSV Mainz 05: the sporting direction is right, and Borussia seems to have really recovered after the horror start to this season.
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old drew attention to himself after the game with a curious confrontation during the press conference – and caused negative headlines about his person. The whole thing started when Mainz’s press officer, Silke Bannick, refused to give the Gladbach coach the customary handshake.
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Her reasoning: she found it inappropriate how much Polanski, together with sporting director Rouven Schröder, celebrated the three points after the final whistle. Both have a past with Mainz. The 44-year-old’s conclusion: It’s inappropriate to celebrate so much when your former club is currently in acute relegation trouble at the very bottom of the table. She’s known Polanski and Schröder “forever.” But with this celebration frenzy, the Gladbach coach, whom she referred to as her “dear Pola,” apparently shot himself out of favor with her, at least for the time being.
The conflict didn’t end with the refused handshake, but continued – in front of rolling cameras!
According to the ‘Allgemeine Zeitung’, before the press conference Polanski even asked the press officer, “whether it’s the hormones or not” – important to know: Silke Bannick is currently heavily pregnant. A remark that can truly be considered inappropriate.
It continued during the official part: First, Bannick referred to Polanski as the “coach from the Upper Rhine,” even though the Foals are usually called the team from the Lower Rhine. Whether intentional or not – it poured more oil on the fire. After Polanski was introduced by the Mainz press officer, the Gladbach coach snapped at her – clearly audible to everyone present and the cameras: “You don’t need to look at me like that.”
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Alex Grimm - 2025 Getty Images
By the way, Polanski didn’t just want to let this tense press conference intermezzo slide after the media round ended and commented to ‘Bild’ as follows: “I found it disrespectful that she refused to shake my hand, and I told her that. Then she wanted to tell me that her hands were full – I told her that she was disrespectful first and then also lied. But I’m totally relaxed about it, it’ll be fine.”
In the end, calm prevailed again – the kind of calm you would have expected during the press conference after an away win by your own team.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in here.
Alex Grimm - 2025 Getty Images
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