Schweisteiger's Injury Puts His UEFA Super Cup Status in Jeopardy

Bastian Schweinsteiger left in the 79th minute of the 1-1 draw against SC Freiburg on Tuesday, but FC Bayern Munich has not ruled the 29-year-old for the UEFA Supercup against Chelsea.

FC Bayern addressed the issue immediately after the game, with both media director Markus Hörwick and manager Josep "Pep" Guardiola echoing each other in breaking the news.

"He has a strain in his ankle," Guardiola said [fcbayern.de]. "The examination is tomorrow. I hope that he can play on Friday, but we don't know."

"He will be examined in Munich," said Hörwick [dfb.de]. "We hope that he can play on Friday against Chelsea."

The news does not come in a great context for the squad. The other pure holding midfielder in Munich, Javier Martínez, has been out of action the past few weeks with adductor problems. Add the Thiago Alcântara ankle injury from Saturday and the squad depth is looking more like a kiddy pool than an Olympic one.

"He doesn't look good," Philipp Lahm said, who took over the holding midfield role late in the game.

Assuming Schweinsteiger and Martínez become unavailable for the game Friday, that leaves FC Bayern with three immediate options. One scenario is that Toni Kroos drops deeper, providing Müller and Götze with the open attacking midfield spots. The other two are that a defender, either Lahm or Jan Kirchhoff, take over the role temporarily.

There is no reason for complete alarm quite yet, as team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfarth will have to conduct the proper X-rays and MRI's and make a distinctive diagnosis. It will still be hard to not hold one's breath, though...