Bayern Munich defender David Alaba will reportedly be out of action for a considerable amount of time due to a thigh injury.
It was a disappointing weekend for Bayern Munich. The defending champions slipped to the third position in the league table after dropping points against RB Leipzig at Red Bull Arena on Saturday. Die Roten could not capitalize on their dominating first-half performance.
This weekend got a lot worse for Bayern Munich as David Alaba will reportedly be on sidelines for a longer time. The Austrian full-back was ruled out of the Leipzig game at the last moment after suffering a thigh injury in the warm-up session.
Bayern released a statement on Sunday confirming that Alaba has torn a muscle in his left thigh. The club has not given a time frame for Alaba’s return, but Sport1’s Manuel Bonke admits that Alaba will be out for several weeks.
Alaba will be a big miss for Die Roten as he has been a consistent performer for Kovac. The Austrian heavily contributes to defense and attack on the left flank. Lucas Hernandez played in the left-back role against Leipzig. He delivered a decent performance in this game but made one rash decision in the box which eventually led to the penalty for Leipzig.
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The Frenchman should be playing this role in the next few weeks. Alphonso Davies is another option in the left-back role as Kovac used him in this position during the pre-season games. Due to Alaba’s injury, Jerome Boateng is likely to get a decent amount of gametime in central defense.
Kovac might also decide to move Joshua Kimmich back to right-back position, and deploy Benjamin Pavard in central defense. Pavard played in central defense along with Niklas Sule against Hertha Berlin in the first Bundesliga games of the season. This injury could lead to changes in midfield and defense in the upcoming games.
This is the second injury blow for Bayern this week as Leon Goretzka was also ruled out for few weeks due to thigh injury. The German midfielder is expected to return in two-four weeks depending on the recovery process. Kovac will be hoping that these two players’ avoid relapse during rehabilitation and return as soon as possible.
Bayern cannot afford to dwell on this disappointing result as games are coming thick and fast. The Bundesliga champions will start their Champions League campaign on Wednesday. Die Roten will host Red Star Belgrade in their first group game. Kovac will be expecting a strong response from his players after a mixed performance against Leipzig.