Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann had his case against a German newspaper that depicted him as Jesus Christ on the cross dismissed on Tuesday, the daily Tageszeitung announced on their website.
“This type of representation is to be classed in the domain of satire, or, more specifically, caricature,” the tribunal said in its judgement, which was made public by lawyers.
“It was not at all a real crucifixion. The complainant’s professional decline is instead represented in symbolic fashion.”
The image in question appeared on the front page of the left-wing newspaper’s Easter edition.
Beneath the headline ‘Always look on the bright side of life’, the name of a song from a Monty Python film, Klinsmann was shown in a photo-montage that depicted him with long blond hair, screaming while being crucified on a cross.
Klinsmann came in for fierce criticism in the German press after Bayern lost 5-1 to Wolfsburg in the German first division before being thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
