Bayern Munich have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but before the trip to Kiev on Tuesday, the team is decimated, weighed down by the refusal of some players to be vaccinated, and must overcome an unexpected defeat on Saturday in Bundesliga. "
We do not have the pressure of the result, if not the pressure that Bayern has for all matches,
" Bavarian coach Julian Nagelsmann first indicated at a press conference on Monday, but "
we have eight missing players and plus a lot of options on the bench, especially in attack on the wings and for the back line
".
In addition to the eight absent some, Kingsley Coman and Marcel Sabitzer should be spared for the reception of Bielefeld on Saturday in the Bundesliga, while Bayern remains on a defeat on Saturday against the poorly classified Augsburg (2-1) and has no more than 'one point ahead of Dortmund.
“
For King and Sabi (Coman and Sabitzer, editor's note), we don't know if they will be able to play,
” Nagelsmann said: “
Sabi has Achilles tendon and calf problems.
Coman doesn't have a lot of muscle pain anymore, but we have to wait, because we have an important Bundesliga game at the end of the week.
If both are absent, there we will have a very small workforce
”.
To discover
Champions League fixtures and results
Champions League standings
Bayern is facing a specific problem because of several players who refuse the vaccination against the Covid: Joshua Kimmich, the real boss of the team, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Michaël Cuisance, unvaccinated , were placed in quarantine by the health authorities for having been around a positive person, while they themselves have not tested positive. On Sunday, the Bild daily claimed that the club had decided to reduce their salaries during quarantine periods. The vaccination debate is apparently heated internally at Bayern, and the club's press officer on Monday asked journalists - to no avail - to "
only ask questions relating to sport
". "
I do not believe that this situation will collapse the team
", tried to minimize Nagelsmann,"
these disturbing rumors are part of the life of FC Bayern
".
Of course, the coach recognizes that "
it would be nicer if everything was calm and headed in the right direction
", but "
a real team must take advantage of these moments to grow and be united.
It does not mean that we are always of the same opinion,
”he said.