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When word came down that Xherdan Shaqiri had suffered his third thigh injury this season, I was not happy. Bayern Munich spent several years building the best and deepest squad in the entire world, yet this team was losing players seemingly every single week to multi-week injuries. It was ridiculous.
Yes, Bayern have won the Bundesliga. Yes, Bayern are in the semifinals of the DFB Pokal. Yes, Bayern are in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. However, in the second leg of the UCL quarterfinal against Manchester United, this was Bayern's bench:
- Lukas Raeder
- Daniel van Buyten
- Claudio Pizarro
- Rafinha
- Mitchell Weiser
- Pierre Hojbjerg
- Patrick Weihrauch
Considering the players that could be on the bench, that is certainly distressing. Pep Guardiola had four reserve players and two guys older than 35 to throw on the field if need be. That was it. You're probably going to struggle to win all of the trophies with those guys as your only substitutes.
When our own Ryan Cowper relayed the news about Shaqiri's injury, his opinion was that the club should shut him down for the remainder of the season. However, we have this news from Shaqiri courtesy of Spox.
"As of today, I think I can definitely get back on the pitch this season. I think I'll definitely be back fit in two or three weeks."
As the article points out, FC Bayern never actually gave a timetable for Shaqiri's return, but it appears that he will be returning to the field for potentially the second leg of the Real Madrid tie. Getting as many of the regular first team players back is important as we come down the stretch her for the final two trophies