Bayern Munich will have more players available against FC Koln
The first game of Ruckrunde saw Bayern Munich fielding a weakened team on Friday due to numerous coronavirus cases in the squad. Julian Nagelsmann had to come up with a different system against Gladbach. It did work for the first quarter of the game, but Gladbach eventually managed to clinch the victory in the other three-quarters of the match.
After nine players were tested positive for COVID, the bench against Gladbach constituted all young players. Christian Fruchtl was the most senior player on the bench, while all other players were drafted in from the reserves team. Paul Wanner became the youngest player to represent Die Roten in the Bundesliga when he came on for Marc Roca in the 75th minute. Lucas Copado was another young player to make his senior debut against Gladbach.
For the next weekend’s game against FC Koln, Rekordmeister will have a few players returning to the squad. The defending Bundesliga champions are likely to be without skipper Manuel Neuer since he was isolating in the Maldives. The German goalkeeper may have to undergo quarantine once again when he returns to Munich.
After the defeat against Gladbach, Nagelsmann gave a brief update on which players have returned to training. Nagelsmann told media (via iMiaSanMia) that Kingsley Coman, Corentin Tolisso, and Omar Richards are back in training.
Nagelsmann: "Omar Richards, Coco Tolisso and Kingsley Coman will resume training. Coman and Tolisso had muscular problems before the winter break so we have to see how they react during the week. I don't think many starting players will return for the game against Köln"
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) January 7, 2022
The participation of Tolisso and Coman will depend on the seriousness of the muscle injuries. These injuries had made sure that both French internationals missed the game against Wolfsburg before the winter break. Nagelsmann will be hoping that both recover in time and present themselves as options from the bench against Koln.
The German coach would also like to have a center-back in the squad by next weekend to switch back to his usual back four and move Kimmich in the midfield. Lucas Hernandez, Tanguy Nianzou, and Dayot Upamecano had tested positive for coronavirus, so Nagelsmann switched to back three with Benjamin Pavard, Kimmich, and Niklas Sule in defense.
Meanwhile, it does look like Leon Goretzka could be out for a few weeks. The German international has been out since the Der Klassiker win in December. Julian Nagelsmann has already ruled him out for the game against FC Koln.
Takeaways from narrow defeat against Gladbach. dark. Next
Nagelsmann will have to cope with absentees for at least the next couple of weeks. By the last week of January, he will have most of the key players available for selection. The only minor positive of this outbreak is that it happened just before the winter break. If such a situation arises during the knockout round of the Champions League, then there would have been large repercussions on this season’s targets.