Injury Update: Javi Martinez back in training, Goretzka questionable for Chelsea trip

There’s finally some good news on the injury front for Bayern Munich as they face a congested schedule with big matches in all competitions all coming up within a short period of time. The first of which is the trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 tie followed by a league trip to Hoffenheim and then the mid-week DFB-Pokal clash against Schalke just three days later.

Javi Martinez has just resumed full team training today after being sidelined for the past month with a hamstring injury he sustained in Bayern’s 2-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg to close out the hinrunde. He did play in all 6 of Bayern’s Champions League group stage matches, but it’s highly unlikely that’d he’d be thrust back into the lineup, especially considering both Jerome Boateng and Benjamin Pavard will be available after serving one-match suspensions for the 3-2 win over Paderborn on Friday. Martinez has played as both a defensive midfielder and a center back, so he’ll give Hansi Flick more luxury in depth in both areas of the pitch moving forward.

Leon Goretzka missed out on Bayern’s win over Paderborn after he sustained a slight muscular injury in training on Friday. Thankfully, he was able to complete some running sessions today, but it’s uncertain at this point whether or not he’ll be available for the Chelsea match. It was assumed that keeping him out of the match day squad against Paderborn was precautionary. The squad is scheduled to fly out to London tomorrow, but Goretzka ‘s fitness will be judged in the morning training session to determine whether or not he’ll be able to travel with the team to take on Chelsea. Hopefully he’s deemed fit enough so that Flick can restore his preferred triple pivot in midfield of Joshua Kimmich, Thiago Alcantara, and Goretzka that’s worked so well in recent weeks.