Max Eberl has heard this warning before, from inside his own body. The Bayern Munich sporting director spent much of 2022 recovering from a burnout that ended his two-decade run at Borussia Mönchengladbach, and when Vincent Kompany collapsed at the Säbener Straße training ground last Friday, Eberl’s advice to his head coach came from that experience.
“If you don’t listen to the quietest signals your body sends you, eventually your body will scream,” Eberl told reporters.
Kompany, 40, was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after five days under observation. Bayern said the collapse was triggered by meningeal irritation, an inflammation of the membranes around the brain, following a viral infection he had carried for the previous week. Assistants Aaron Danks and Rene Maric are leading training, with no return date set.
Kovac on carrying the job home
Niko Kovac, the Borussia Dortmund head coach, spoke the day before his side’s DFB-Pokal second-round tie against Werder Bremen. He described a profession in which the office door is never really closed.
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“You take pretty much everything home with you. None of us can say that we close our office door, get in the car and leave everything behind,” Kovac told reporters.
He added that the pressure cuts both ways: a relegation fight is exhausting, and expectations at the top are “almost impossible” to meet.
Tullberg feels it in Denmark
In Denmark, Mike Tullberg felt the collapse personally. The FC Midtjylland head coach, who left Borussia Dortmund’s youth setup in 2025 to take the Danish Superliga job, is the same age as Kompany.
“We chose the job ourselves, but it’s a hard job. No doubt about it,” Tullberg told TV 2 Sport.
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Tullberg said he deliberately shields himself from the constant pressure of a title race, and credited Midtjylland for noticing when he needs to step back. Pressure, he added, comes from the media, the club and the supporters all at once.
Klose: stubborn by nature
Miroslav Klose, now in charge of 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Nürnberg, offered a similar diagnosis. The 2014 World Cup winner said the collapse shocked him and acknowledged that coaches rarely look after themselves because, by nature, they are stubborn.
Eberl stepped away four years ago
Eberl’s response is informed by an episode he has spoken about openly. He resigned at Mönchengladbach in January 2022, describing himself as drained and tired, and later told the German magazine 11Freunde that he had been going through the motions “even though my body was screaming.”
At the Bayern press conference, Eberl said part of the current task would be to “protect him from himself to a certain extent”.
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Kompany admits he ignored the warnings
Kompany himself has been blunt about what happened.
“I caught a pretty nasty virus last week, and of course I didn’t listen to my body, so at some point it just said, ‘Stop now!’”, he said in Bayern’s statement after leaving hospital.
Danks and Maric are expected to remain in charge for the coming fixtures, including Saturday’s Bundesliga meeting with Dortmund at the Allianz Arena. Eberl said Kompany’s absence would be measured in weeks rather than days, with no return date set.
