Breaking: Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka and Javi Martinez test positive for coronavirus

This just in — speaking to press ahead of the game against Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick confirmed that Leon Goretzka and Javi Martinez have tested positive for the coronavirus. The duo are confirmed to be out for tomorrow’s fixture, and will enter quarantine.

They are the third and fourth players to test positive at Bayern this season, after Serge Gnabry and Niklas Sule tested positive earlier in the season. In both the earlier cases, the tests ended up being false positives, but there’s no reason to believe the same has happened here.

Notably, Goretzka took part in team training today, and was injured and had to go off after a tackle by Joshua Zirkzee — it’s likely that he wouldn’t have played tomorrow regardless. However, if he was training with the team, there’s a chance he could have infected other players, which may lead to an outbreak. Every player will now be screened again before the match begins, to eliminate that possibility. At the very least, Javi hasn’t trained with the team all week.

Bayern Munich have so far been pretty lucky with the virus, with almost no positive tests throughout a grueling season. That seems set to change, and it was honestly inevitable. Lets hope Goretzka and Javi recovery quickly without any adverse effects, and we see them back on the pitch as soon as possible.

For Flick, this is a headache and a half. With Tolisso also injured, he basically has no midfielders left. Will he do the unthinkable, and start Marc Roca? We’ll just have to wait and see.