Ali Karimi at Bayern Munich

[Foolad Khuzestan]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DuZVYVWqLbg

A former Bundesliga player and product of german football sayin Karimi should have been one of the worlds best. Even after all these years its hard to accept that he wasted some of his best years playing for Al Ahli, Qatar SC, Estil Azin and Perspolis.

You could have easily wrote Ferydoon Zandi said : When i clicked on your link i was expecting some German or Brazlian player lol

[Sly]

maybe determination. But as zandi mentions, besides determination it had something to do with his overall happiness. He struggled to every fully adapt to way of life there. Maybe thats because he went so late and spent so much time in iran and qtar, maybe his personality is just like that. He seemed very determined at start wiith bayern, but injuries, new country, weather, etc ,etc seem to have taken a toll on him.

Sure but if he had determination the problems with a new country would not let him stop. He could always force himself to learn the language or there is always a country with closer culture to Iran's than Germany. There are no limits to what a football player can do to progress if he really wants to.

As Zandi said, when you don't have it mentally, you wont succeed even if you have the skills of Ali Karimi.

[ShiroKhorshid]

Do you know where to see the whole interview?

Ps. Karimi could indeed reach places if he had the determination of let's say, Ali Daei or even Jahanbakhsh.

Unfortunately not couldnt find the whole thing.

[perspolis#1]

Does anyone remember the strength of the UAE league when he was at Al Ahli?

Hindsight is 20/20 but if he went to Atletico Madrid when he was offered(2nd division) they got promoted at the end of that year he would have joined.

I'm trying to remember the state of UAE back then. I remember Karimi with some great performances but dont remember if UAE was importing European/African players like they do now

[Nokhodi]

Does anyone remember the strength of the UAE league when he was at Al Ahli?

Hindsight is 20/20 but if he went to Atletico Madrid when he was offered(2nd division) they got promoted at the end of that year he would have joined.

I'm trying to remember the state of UAE back then. I remember Karimi with some great performances but dont remember if UAE was importing European/African players like they do now

It was the same semi-amateur piece of crap it is now. Every club had 3-4 pro players (usually the foreigners) and a bunch of part-timer locals.

[perspolis#1]

It was the same semi-amateur piece of crap it is now. Every club had 3-4 pro players (usually the foreigners) and a bunch of part-timer locals.

So he had nothing to lose with the move to Atletico

[Nokhodi]

So he had nothing to lose with the move to Atletico

The only thing he would lose is his laziness and reluctance to challenge himself.

[persian_parsa]

I think it's a bit rude to say he was lazy - maybe he wasn't as ambitious as others such as Mahdavikia, Daei, etc. But there is no way he would've made it as far as he did if he was "lazy".

I'm sure he trained his ass off most of his career to make it. Maybe he had issues with living in Germany, maybe he should've been more determined to go abroad sooner, but nobody really knows his situation as well as he does. Maybe he was more motivated by money earlier in his career. Really that's for him to decide. He had amazing performances for Team Melli as an Al-Ahli player in the Asian Cup in 2004.

Of course, I would have wished he had gone to Europe as a 21 year old and become more famous and successful in Europe, like all of us can wish.

[BacheLot]

By the way, Karimi had the chance to extend his contract for one more year at the end of the 06/07 season. Instead, he opted to leave for Qatar SC at the age of 28.

Hum..!Not so sure about that !?
He was brought in to Bayern mostly due to interest from Magath & he was pretty much deposed along with Magath after his injury ridden 2nd year ..! & for failing to win the domestic double Again for 3rd year in a row & yet another disappointing CL campaign as far as Magath’s faith @ the club was concerned..!
Ali managed to even extend his original 1year+ contract with Bayern Only by meeting certain contractual performance pre-requisites (mainly number of appearances ..! Don’t recall how many it was ??)
I do however remember intense interest to sign him upon his Bayern departure from some Red Bull team..! (Red Bull’s Salzburg!??) off course, true to his nasty, Unambitious nature he instead opted for more $$s in yet another Kirit, amateur league , Qatar sc..!

In Karimi's time?!! I think it was quite the contrary! Bayern experienced two of their worst seasons that at least I have seen. That is exactly one of the reasons that Ballack left Bayern the year after. He wanted to win the CL and he said he couldn't with the players Bayern had at the time. It was only after Karimi left when Bayern started to do major changes, bringing in Ribery and later Robben, etc.

I think they had talent galore as far as playing squad at their disposal, Bayern did win the domestic double rather convincingly Twice in 3years under Magath (1,the prior season before Ak8 arrival & another in his first season there...!)
However they continually underachieved in CL probably mostly due to the strict, overly disciplinarian coaching philosophies of Felix ..!? After the complete debacle & failure on all fronts domestically & in EU, Bayern mgmt went under Wholesale Changes in 2007? & many of its key stars (Ballak, etc) left to elsewhere too mostly in search of European glory which was eluding them for much of their careers ..! & for our unambitious koongoshaad footballing hero with an over-inflated ego, off corse back to ayrab/Iran amateur leagues where he would enjoy an lazy, lucrative living playing football while being praised & revered off the pitch & requiring to first have his ego padded before being arsed to even play or assistant coach for TM or his final clubs. ..!

[Nokhodi]

I think it's a bit rude to say he was lazy - maybe he wasn't as ambitious as others such as Mahdavikia, Daei, etc. But there is no way he would've made it as far as he did if he was "lazy".

I'm sure he trained his ass off most of his career to make it. Maybe he had issues with living in Germany, maybe he should've been more determined to go abroad sooner, but nobody really knows his situation as well as he does. Maybe he was more motivated by money earlier in his career. Really that's for him to decide. He had amazing performances for Team Melli as an Al-Ahli player in the Asian Cup in 2004.

Of course, I would have wished he had gone to Europe as a 21 year old and become more famous and successful in Europe, like all of us can wish.

He is lazy. It's not a lie.
Even his closest friends say "Ali doesn't even like football"!

[ShiroKhorshid]

Hum..!Not so sure about that !?
He was brought in to Bayern mostly due to interest from Magath & he was pretty much deposed along with Magath after his injury ridden 2nd year ..! & for failing to win the domestic double Again for 3rd year in a row & yet another disappointing CL campaign as far as Magath’s faith @ the club was concerned..!
Ali managed to even extend his original 1year+ contract with Bayern Only by meeting certain contractual performance pre-requisites (mainly number of appearances ..! Don’t recall how many it was ??)
I do however remember intense interest to sign him upon his Bayern departure from some Red Bull team..! (Red Bull’s Salzburg!??) off course, true to his nasty, Unambitious nature he instead opted for more $$s in yet another Kirit, amateur league , Qatar sc

Yes, its true. Karimi's last 3 performances for Bayern were very good (he started all 3 of them, havin an amazin assist against M'Gladbach and scorin in the last one against Mainz). After that, Bayern offered him a one year extension, which he refused. He said it in his long 90 interview with Ferdowsipour after he had retired.

And yes, besides RB Salzburg he also had interest from Wolfsburg which would have been a very good step for him. A team that only 2 years later would go on and win the Bundesliga and get to play Championsleague, and the years after always participated in either CL or EL. Dejagah joined them the same
summer by the way.

[Foolad Khuzestan]

I also remember newspapers reporting Wolfsburg wanted him but he wasnt interested, overall I think we will never ever see a Karimi again, i cant even describe him, so sad, maybe his son one day 😂

[ShiroKhorshid]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O5sMgFMF6_E

Here he says he regrets not extendin with Bayern.

[persian_parsa]

He is lazy. It's not a lie.
Even his closest friends say "Ali doesn't even like football"!

Maybe compared to someone like Mehdi Mahdavikia, Nekounam, or Jahanbakhsh, he wasn't as ambitious.

I don't believe his closest friends. If he doesn't like football then he wouldn't have had a career in football, or try to be a football coach.

Don't get me wrong, I think his mentality held him back from greater success. But he's definitely not "lazy". He had natural talent but that only goes so far - it won't get you to Bayren Munich, trust me. If he was indeed lazy, he would have never even tried to go to Bayern at all. The players that are actually lazy never make it to the pro leagues.

[BacheLot]

^well koongoshdi/laziness is the direct result of lacking ambition ..!
sure, to believe literally that "he didnt like football" is an exaggerated, far fetched notion, considering his still very impressive international/club accomplishments..!
i think that notion stems from him supposedly telling someone close to him?(a friend ?teammate?) something along the line of that "he wasn't all too fond of football, however he played because he was good at it and mostly because he couldnt come up with another easier and more enjoyable means of amassing a similar amount of wealth/income from ..!!?"
off course such comment (if true..?) is rather reflective of a pathetic mindset and is very much reflective of his rather weak ambition and resolve which played a pivotal role in him failing to live up to even half his career Potential ..!
PS
like i said before , beside his weak will, ambition and drive, i think he also was just a bit too mokhi and emotionally insecure person ..!? i dont know if he was born with a somewhat egotistical traits ? or way too much media and fan's applaud and praising of his footballing talent got into his head and resulted in his self-righteousness,? especially so towards to twilights of his playing career and beyond..!!
his constant nasty clashes with authoritative figures in our football and with Daie ( another similarly arrogant and Self-righteous, but famous key player..!) caused many set-backs to TM throughout those years ..!

i was a huge fan of him for much of his career but towards the end got fed up with his bs antics and nowadays im just another disappointed, mostly wondering-what-coulda-been fan of him..!!