Kung-fu Bayern: Neuer and Zirkzee collide during training session

It seems as if every time Bayern Munich go away to Qatar for their annual winter training camp, there’s always at least one or two incidents that occur during training sessions. This camp has been no different. Thomas Müller has already given Jerome Boateng an accidental blow to the face that knocked the center-back’s contact lens out of his left eye.

Now, per a report by Bild, there’s has been another accidental incident in Bayern’s camp, this time involving a collision between keeper Manuel Neuer and young striker Joshua Zirkzee.

The collision occurred when Zirkzee was going after a long ball played to him. When Zirkzee jumped up to take the ball down, Neuer crashed into him, as he had eyes fixed on the ball on the edge of the penalty area. Zirkzee threw up his arms at the last second to brace for impact before crashing to the ground for about a minute. He was immediately assessed by Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt and Bayern’s physios. Thankfully the youngster was able to get to his feet relatively quickly and continue the training session.

Ironically enough, the collision bore a striking resemblance to the collision that resulted in a red card to Schalke’s — soon to be Bayern’s Alexander Nübel in their 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, when Nübel barreled into Frankfurt’s Mijat Gaćinović. Thankfully for Frankfurt, the Serbian midfielder was absolutely fine aside from some nasty cuts and bruises across his chest. Given the nature of the collisions, both Zirkzee and Gaćinović could consider themselves lucky. Zirkzee should still be in contention to play a part in Bayern’s weekend friendly against FC Nürnberg on Saturday.