FC Bayern will be without a total of five players for Saturday evening’s Bundesliga match at home to Arminia Bielefeld. Midfielder Marcel Sabitzer will be out of action for the longest. “He’s got a muscular injury in his calf. We’ll have to do without him for a few weeks,” revealed coach Julian Nagelsmann in Friday’s press conference.
Nianzou with shoulder injury
Defender Tanguy Nianzou, who limped off in Tuesday’s Champions League encounter in Kyiv, is also ruled out. “Tanguy snapped a ligament in the shoulder. He won’t be involved tomorrow, but if he doesn’t have any pain then he’ll be able to resume as normal. I hope that will be the start of next week. The shoulder is stable,” confirmed Nagelsmann, who’ll also be without Bouna Sarr against Bielefeld. “Bouna has a slight muscular injury in his adductor and will miss out.” Joshua Kimmich and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who have both tested positive for coronavirus this week, are also unavailable.
Niklas Süle is back in full training.
On the other hand, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Michael Cuisance all return to the squad after their coronavirus isolation. “They had a negative test and can leave isolation tonight. They’re not yet in contention to start but it’s three more options for us, which is a help,” added Nagelsmann.
Süle and Stanišić fit again
The same goes for defensive duo Niklas Süle and Josip Stanišić after their bouts of coronavirus. “Niki and Stani have trained well, but they were both ill. We have to take into account that they’ve not trained much. They’re making a good impression but aren’t yet ready to start,” said the Bayern boss. Dayot Upamecano is available again following his Champions League suspension, while Nagelsmann also gave the all-clear for Lucas Hernández and Leon Goretzka. “Luci has trained and it’s looking good. We reacted early and well there. Leon has done a bit less but that was a precautionary measure as the match wasn’t in danger.”
You can watch Nagelsmann’s pre-match press conference in full: