Bayern Munich sit top of the Bundesliga and the dressing room is thinner than it has been in years. The champions beat SC Freiburg 3-1 on Sunday with seven first-team players unavailable, a stand-in head coach on the touchline, and Manuel Neuer watching from Munich with a foot problem that nobody will put a date on.
Danks took the Freiburg trip while Kompany remained in hospital, and when he was asked about the Germany captain he offered no timeline.
“I’m not too sure. He had a small aggravation in his foot. It depends on how much time that takes to settle. It could be a little bit uncomfortable for him at the moment, but I don’t think it will take too long,” Danks told reporters, as reported by Bavarian Football Works.
The 40-year-old goalkeeper has lived with recurring foot trouble for the best part of a decade, but the picture at the training ground is that this is a flare-up rather than a fresh injury. Danks could not say whether Neuer would be fit for the DFB-Pokal tie against 1. FC Magdeburg on Wednesday, or for the Bundesliga meeting with Borussia Dortmund that follows at the weekend.
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Urbig covers both ends in Freiburg
Jonas Urbig, 23, started in goal at the Europa-Park Stadion and finished the night as the main reason Bayern held on. Dayot Upamecano, Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise scored, Tom Bischof’s own-goal with eight minutes left set up a tight finish, and Urbig made a string of saves before Olise sealed it in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
The young keeper is widely tipped to take over from Neuer as Bayern’s number one next season. For now he is simply the player standing between the champions and a slip at the top of the table.
A coach measured in weeks, not days
Kompany was taken to hospital on Friday, 23 October, after collapsing while watching Bayern’s reserves train. He had been dealing with a viral infection earlier in the week, and tests to establish the cause of the collapse are still running.
“The good news is he’s stable. I spoke with him last night, with his wife too. It wasn’t a nice moment for all of us, he collapsed on the pitch yesterday and will spend a few more days in hospital until everything is checked over,” director of sport Max Eberl said, according to The National.
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On the length of his coach’s absence, Eberl was blunt in comments reported by Sky Sports: “We’re not talking in terms of days, but weeks.” Danks will remain in charge until Kompany is cleared to return.
Magdeburg on Wednesday, Dortmund on Saturday
The second-round DFB-Pokal tie against 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Magdeburg is at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, 28 October, with kick-off at 8:45pm local time. Dortmund then visit on Saturday for a Klassiker that Bayern may still be facing without their captain and their head coach.
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