Monday, March 22, 2021

Trip to the national team
Merkel intervened for Lewandowski

Needed by David

For a long time, it seems that FC Bayern will reject Robert Lewandowski’s trip to their Polish team’s match in England due to quarantine rules. The Polish prime minister then personally intervenes with Angela Merkel, and the chancellor is said to have accepted the trip.

In fact, he shouldn’t have allowed him to drive: on March 31, the Polish team plays England against England in London and star forward Robert Lewandowski shouldn’t have traveled to the Thames because his club, FC Bayern, made the trip. had forbidden. Because travelers returning from Great Britain had to go to quarantine due to crown rules in Germany. Just three days after the national game is the main game at RB Leipzig, Lewandowski would have missed it.

According to FIFA regulations, clubs have the option to refuse to send a player if there is a risk of quarantine upon returning to the club. Bayern coach Hansi Flick said the trip to England “we will not agree.” “If it remains that the returnees from England have to be quarantined, we will not be able to disconnect Lewa,” added sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. Well, it wasn’t like that, on Sunday the rules were changed. For travelers from Great Britain there is no longer an obligation to self-quarantine, as explained by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Prime Minister calls Merkel

So far everything is going well, especially for Lewandowski. But it got weird behind the scenes even before the rule change. Polish media reportthat Polish diplomacy took unconventional measures at the highest level last week to allow Robert Lewandowski and Krzysztof Piatek of Hertha BSC to play against England.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki personally intervened with Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Pawel Jablonski, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry. Such a situation is very special, but due to the importance of the matter for the Polish national team and the fans, the state decided to intervene at the highest political level.

According to Jablonski, the signals from the German side were initially quite negative, but an agreement was reached after an intervention. “The captain of the whites and reds will play at Wembley,” announced the online newspaper “onet”. Jablonski referred to exceptional cases in which the crown rules generally imposed in Germany can be dispensed with. “We will go to London with a full squad,” Polish Football Association President Zbigniew Boniek later said on Twitter: “I would like to thank everyone who helped us. A special thanks to the Prime Minister’s office.” Government spokesman Piotr Müller also confirmed Morawiecki’s contact with Merkel on this matter.

In Germany, it is officially up to regional governments to grant quarantine exemptions. German government circles have yet to comment on the issue. It’s also unclear when exactly the government, along with the RKI, decided on the rule change for Britain announced on Sunday.