Baumgart on the Nice riot: "It was just naked violence"

Steffen Baumgart was still shocked by what he had experienced the day after.

"In the early 1990s I was in the riot police," said the 1. FC Köln coach openly and deeply moved.

"And that's exactly why I left the police: Because I didn't want to do something like that.

That's why it's not easy for me to deal with it."

Because he was suspended for the Conference League game at OGC Nice (1-1), Baumgart had seen the riots before the game with 32 injured people in the stands.

"I don't consider myself the most anxious person," he said.

“But what happened yesterday will stay with me for a very long time.

It was just pure violence.

And that's scary when you're standing relatively close.

My family sat in the seats where they walked by.

There's a lot going on in you."

"You're just shocked"

He was "just glad the boys didn't notice," said the coach, looking at his players who were in the dressing room at the time.

He had “not thought about whether the game should take place.

I saw the young man fall down the stands.

You're just shocked.

It's not about the thought of whether you're going to play." In the end, it was right to whistle the game, "because if everyone had left the stadium with these short-term emotions, we don't know what else would have happened."

He himself tried to influence the rioters, he reported.

"But nothing was possible.

The guys who were looking up were looking right through me.

And then we went into the VIP room to be protected ourselves. ”He asked to be allowed to join the team for a short time.

"That was rejected because of the yellow-red card, even though it was a borderline situation," he said.

"You can see that some people are not ready to turn on their brains."

Meanwhile, the processing of the incidents began immediately after the incidents, which, according to managing director Christian Keller, can take "a few weeks".

The consequences for the club are "not yet foreseeable," said Keller.

"I don't want to speculate either.

There is certainly a wide range.” This ranges from fines to conditions or even ghost games and the exclusion of spectators from away games.

According to the club, a two-year probation imposed on FC in 2017 after fan incidents has now expired, even if the Cologne team has not participated in the European Cup since then.

But it is clear to him that the history still contributes to being viewed more critically, said Keller: "Once you've done something stupid, you're more under observation than if you've never been guilty of anything."

Now who is to blame?

As a direct measure, the next European Cup game next Thursday against 1. FC Slovacko from the Czech Republic was "upgraded to a risky game" by UEFA.

The public prosecutor's office in Nice has initiated several investigations into joint property damage or violence in and around the stadium.

But the question of guilt is difficult.

Nice coach Lucien Favre had stated that his club saw no fault in himself and his fans.

If Nice were sentenced to a ghost game "it would be unfair," said the long-time Bundesliga coach.

The newspaper "Le Parisien" took a similar view: "The angry German fans who devastated part of Nice were to blame."