More COVID-19 troubles at Bayern Munich

Sabener Strasse is currently a lot emptier than usual due to the bulk of Bayern Munich’s players having gone away for international duty with their respective countries.

Specifically, 20 players have left Munich for international duty, but there’s also now more coronavirus trouble for Bayern players that’s also affected the German National team.

Per a new report from Bild, Bayern Munich II player Torben Rhein has tested positive for the coronavirus after there had been a bit of an outbreak with Bayern’s U19s. Currently, there are no youth players training with Bayern’s first team, which is already a very small group. Corentin Tolisso, Marc Roca, Omar Richards, Michael Cuisance, Sven Ulreich and Christian Fruchtl comprised said group, but Julian Nagelsmann had planned on using some of the youth players so that they could train properly with enough people. Because of the recent positive case from Rhein after the small outbreak amongst the U19s, Nagelsmann does not have the option of using any of those players in training sessions at Sabener Strasse and there are currently more coaches than players for the sessions. It was purposely planned not to use any of the U19s as to now heighten the risk of spreading infections across the senior team, especially as the majority of them prepped to go on international assignments.

Subsequently, not long after Rhein’s positive case was announced, Niklas Sule also tested positive after he had already left to meetup with Die Mannschaft in Wolfsburg. He had travelled there with Bayern teammates Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, and RB Salzurg’s Karim Adeyemi, all of whom have been deemed close contacts and now have to quarantine away from the rest of the team.

Unvaccinated players under current regulations have to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days, which obviously applies to Kimmich, though it is unclear if that’s the case, specifically, for Gnabry and Adeyemi. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was also deemed to be a close contact of Sule’s, so he will miss Cameroon’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malawi and Côte d’Ivoire.

Per Bild, Nagelsmann went the extra mile (literally), to compensate for the fact that there were only four outfield players in training today. He participated in the jogging and stabilization exercises and even cut an exhausted figure himself at times. Cuisance was noticeably gassed after sprinting drills that involved quick passing, slaloming through poles, resistance ropes, and finishing. Nagelsmann put himself through the paces to add an extra body and it’s safe to say the self-proclaimed “title hamster” is more than capable of running on the wheel (ba dum tssss).

Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images