Report: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting still a doubt for Bayern Munich’s Borussia Dortmund clash

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has missed Bayern Munich’s last two Bundesliga matches against FC Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen due to a back injury. Those two matches came just after the second leg in the Champions League round of 16 win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Allianz Arena, a match in which Choupo-Moting scored the first of two goals for Bayern. Even before that affair, he had been on a scoring streak in the Bundesliga, scoring in three straight matches against Borussia Monchengladbach, Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart.

Per an update from Sport1’s Kerry Hau (as per @iMiaSanMia), Choupo-Moting is still experiencing back pain and the striker remains a doubt for the April 1st clash against Borussia Dortmund after the international break resumes. He did not linkup with the Cameroon squad for the break and has instead stayed behind in Munich, but is currently not able to train. He has also reportedly been dealing with the back pain for several weeks now, just playing through the pain barrier, and it’s been putting a strain on his leg muscles, slightly hampering his full range of mobility.

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Tz’s Philipp Kessler has added that Choupo-Moting has been doing some work in the weight room with the idea being to add progressive overload over time to get him back into full team training. If all goes according to plan with that regiment, Bayern would like to have him resume full team training by some point next week, though it could still be too late to grant him involvement in the installment of der Klassiker next weekened.

There will be options as far as who starts up front instead of Choupo-Moting. Thomas Muller, Sadio Mane, or Serge Gnabry could all potentially be used as either false 9’s or central attackers, while none of them are as natural of a striker as the Cameroon international. During the 2-2 draw at Dortmund in the hinrunde of this season, Mane pinpointed the attack, with Gnabry and Leroy Sane on either flank and Jamal Musiala just behind him. Choupo-Moting and Kingsly Coman were used as attacking subs in the second half of that occasion.